


Hunting in Camp Half-Blood

by penguin--empress (penguinempress)



Category: Supernatural, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Crossover with plot, F/M, M/M, Percy and Jason are total bros, Sam is never letting Dean do research again, The Hunters of Artemis are not happy, The Winchesters find Camp Half-Blood, Zeus screws everything up, the world is ending because hunters and demigods never get a break
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 09:18:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 47,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4299228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penguinempress/pseuds/penguin--empress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Sam do some research and think something strange is going on in Long Island Sound. So, naturally they go to investigate only to find a camp full of demigods recovering from saving the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Research

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Supernatural or PJO/HoO.
> 
> Rated T for some mild cursing.

After suffering through hours of searching online for odd disappearances and/or murders, Dean leaned back in his chair to look up at the person who had come into the study. His younger brother shook his head with his lips pursed in a mixture of worry and exasperation.

"Did you sleep at all?" the younger man asked.

With his trademark smirk in place and an eyebrow raised, Dean answered, "No time for sleep, Sammy. Besides, I found a lead."

There was an irritated sigh from the doorway before Sam finally gave in and walked to his brother's side. Once Sam was by his side, Dean opened the first of three tabs.

The computer screen showed an online news article with a headline that read "Bizarre Earthquake on Long Island Sound Baffles Scientists."

Sam scoffed as he read the headline. "Yeah, Dean, earthquakes are a definite sign of monsters. Should we go rushing to California every time they have an earthquake?"

Dean just stared at him with barely concealed annoyance as he clicked on the second tab. Another online news article's headline filled the screen along with an image of an explosion in the sky.

"'Huge Explosion Destroys Small Aircraft'," Sam read.

"You gonna tell me that 'small aircraft' isn't a fucking dragon?" Dean replied sarcastically. "This 'aircraft' exploded over Long Island Sound just seconds after the earthquake stopped."

Sam answered hastily, "Okay, okay. Maybe you are on to something."

The last tab opened up to show numerous pictures taken of the explosion, only these showed a large number of kids in battle gear staring up at the explosion in the distance. Surrounding the kids were hundreds of monsters. Of course, if one didn't know what he or she were looking for, the kids and monsters would have easily been overlooked, but not for two experienced hunters.

Silence filled the study as Sam finished examining the photographs over Dean's shoulder. Finally, he broke the silence, "This is definitely something big. I've never seen so many monsters in one place. Hell, I don't even know what half of those monsters are… Is that a cyclops?"

The men were in Dean's black 1967 Chevy Impala, heading to Long Island Sound before noon.

[insert road trip montage]

There didn't seem to be an end to the cabins that were spread out at the bottom of the hill. Dean gawked at the sight of what looked like teenagers climbing a rock wall covered in lava.

"How have the hunters not found this place?" he said to his brother who stood beside him, equally shocked.

Before he could respond, the short raven-haired boy, who had saved them from being eaten by a drakon at the top of the hill, turned to look at them incredulously. "You know the Hunters?"

The taller of the two brothers raised an eyebrow as he stared at the small teenager. "Yeah, we're hunters."

The boy looked more than confused as he replied, "I think we're talking about a different kind of hunter. I'm talking about a group that kills magical creatures."

"Yeah, kid," Dean said with exasperation, patience wasn't his strong suit. "We're those kind of hunters."

"'Course you are." The boy rolled his eyes. "We've got some Hunters visiting today, actually. You should definitely meet them and be sure to let them know you're hunters, too. They'd love that."

There was dark glint in the boy's obsidian eyes and an evil looking smirk on his lips that caused both men to grip their guns a little tighter.

I am never letting Dean do research again, Sam thought bitterly as he followed the goth kid.


	2. Dolphins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I have no idea where I'm going with this story so if any of you have any ideas please let me know. All I know is that each chapter is going to switch from Supernatural characters' points of view to PJO/HoO characters' points of view and there's going to be a lot of Percy&Jason bro moments just because I can do that.

Finding two grown men wandering around what used to be Thalia's tree had been more than a little weird to Nico. He had been on guard duty that evening, like he had recently begun doing whenever Solace didn't need him in the infirmary, when these two gun-wielding weirdos had nearly gotten themselves eaten by the camp's guard drakon.

All the son of Hades wanted was a normal day with no strange men trespassing into camp, no irritating sons of Poseidon, and no monsters. Was that too much to ask for?

Nico let out a frustrated sigh as he led the two self-proclaimed hunters to the Big House. He had to fight to hold in the laugh that threatened to bubble out of him when he thought about what the Hunters of Artemis would think of the two men calling themselves hunters.

The two men behind him were whispering to each other about how they needed to get a hold of some Bobby guy soon.

Was the Big House getting farther away or was that just Nico's imagination? Or maybe it was just the stupidity of the whole situation that was making the whole thing seem slower.

Here he was a fourteen year old with a sword leading two grown-ass men with guns to talk to the wine god/camp director and a centaur/activities director. That was strange even for a demigod. No one used guns in the camp as far as Nico knew. Although, he had heard about Annabeth's father making celestial bullets but those were so hard to come by, there was no way these two idiots had any.

While Nico was lost in thought trying to come up with more insults to call the two men behind him, they finally reached the porch of the Big House.

The camp director Mr. D was sitting on the porch drinking Diet Coke from a wine glass in his usual tiger stripe Hawaiian shirt and purple running shoes. Chiron, the activities director, was sitting in his wheelchair a little further away talking to Percy Jackson, the irritating son of Poseidon.

Upon noticing the short raven haired boy and his two followers, Percy leaned over the rail to call out to him. "Hey, Neeks!"

A loud crash could be heard coming from inside the Big House before a tall, muscular blonde boy came bounding out the front door to tackle Nico in a hug.

"Oh, is Jason your type now?" Percy whined. He looked the two gun-wielding men up and down before adding, "Oh, you're into those kind of guys, aren't you?"

Jason released the son of Hades from a suffocating bear hug. "Aw, Perce, don't worry about it. If I were gay you would totally be my type."

Percy looked genuinely comforted by that. "You really mean that? You're the best, bro."

"Are you guys sure I'm the only gay one here right now?" Nico muttered.

Before Percy could start whining again, Mr. D spoke up, "Nigel O'Daniel, who are these men?"

Nico raised an eyebrow at the name but otherwise remained silent, knowing if he opened his mouth something sarcastic was going to pour out. Being sassy to a god never ended well.

The shorter of the two men began to speak but was silenced by an elbow to the ribs from the taller one.

"We're hunters and we found that there was a significant increase in monsters around here recently. We only came to help get rid of any that might still be around," the taller one explained.

He really needs a haircut, Nico thought only to remember that he was also in need of one.

The shorter of the two men started to speak again and this time he wasn't stopped by flying elbows. "Sam and Dean Winchester. Perhaps you've heard of us? We save the world like once a year."

Mr. D shot up from his chair. Nico had never seen him move so fast; actually, now that he thought about it, he didn't think he'd ever seen the camp director get out of his chair. He just kind of disappeared from one chair only to reappear in another.

"You're the bastards that tried to kill Hermes last year!" Mr. D bellowed. "He's my half-brother and you bumbling idiots were going to murder him."

Silence fell amongst the strange group only to be broken by Percy and Jason's mumbled "see ya later" to Nico.

In the distance the nymphs were playing their version of tag with the satyrs. The nymphs giggles and the occasional thump of a satyr body slamming into a tree were the only other sounds to break the intense silence.

Nico was fairly certain Will needed him in the infirmary now and was about to rush off when Chiron stood up.

His four horse legs stepped out of the magical wheelchair and he rose to his true height which towered over Nico's vertically challenged body. Nico heard two gasps from behind him and had to remind himself that now was not the time to be a smart ass.

Two guns raised immediately, aimed at the centaur who just chuckled in amusement.

"Boys, those weapons are rather useless here," the wise old centaur explained. He turned to Mr. D to say, "Do not kill them. You know how humans are, they attack first and ask questions later."

"Then let me turn them into a smarter mammal, like the dolphin." There was an evil glint in Mr. D's eyes that made Nico take an involuntary step back.

But Chiron just patted the cherub-like god of wine on the back before telling him to leave the poor men alone. He smiled apologetically at the two men who still had guns pointed at him. "Please excuse him, he's not a big people person." Mr. D huffed indignantly at that but Chiron ignored him. "If you two would be kind enough to put the guns up and follow me, I would be more than happy to answer all the questions I'm sure you've been dying to ask."

Before either man could do anything, the guns disappeared from their hands and reappeared in Mr. D's hands. Vines began encompassing the guns, until only the handles could be seen. The camp director dropped the guns before two stunned Winchesters.

Nico looked back at the so-called hunters and stifled a laugh. "Good luck," he whispered to them as he all but ran to the infirmary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHERE AM I GOING WITH THIS STORY? What do you people want from this story? Please tell me!
> 
> Also, I don't remember if the Winchesters actually fought with Hermes in the show - It's been awhile since I've watched it - but if not then just assume that they did off-screen. This is set any time before the Leviathans in the Supernatural timeline... Only because I don't wanna think about what happened to Bobby during the Leviathan era.
> 
> I may include Cas later on because well... Dean's confused, scared, and in need of backup and who else would come to help him without a second thought? And I just love the way Cas and Dean interact, they have a wonderful relationship (whether you see it as romantic [I think it is half the time] or platonic) and they work very well together.
> 
> But this is all just speculation because I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING WITH THIS STORY? And I tried to make this chapter as long as I could but without a general plot I'm kind of just writing filler and I don't wanna do that to y'all.


	3. Orientation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to take the time to thank 2 people (I’m assuming you’re different people) CatatonicVanity on archiveofourown and Chickengirlallie on fanfiction for giving me such helpful ideas. I now have a basic plot:D
> 
> Also, thank you to Br0kenThOrn for reminding me that the boys met Mercury not Hermes and it was Lucifer that killed him - I was a silly Kenzie and forgot, as Kenzies sometimes do - But we’re just gonna say that they met Hermes off-screen and tried to kill him ‘cause that’s believable right?
> 
> Finwitch1, thank you for reminding me to explain things… I have a tendency to forget to do that o.o sorry! And thank you for being super helpful!:)
> 
> Sorry this was such a long disclaimer thing-y but bless each of you readers for simply reading and now without further ado...

Being completely unarmed before a god and a centaur was more than a bit unnerving for the two Winchesters. Sam was attempting to give them an apologetic smile while Dean couldn't figure out if he wanted to apologize, make a smartass comment, or try to attack the two unarmed.

Instead of attacking, Dean decided to give the god a bullshit apology and a smirk.

Sam glanced at his brother with a face that screamed, "What the hell are you doing?" before looking back at the god of wine to apologize profusely.

The god just glared at the two while the centaur ushered them into the big, blue house with the wrap around porch. The two brothers passed a few rooms that were full of wounded kids on hospital beds and a few kids wearing scrubs. The centaur briefly explained that most of the bottom floor and one of the cabins had been reserved for the infirmary since the war the campers had recently fought had left a lot of kids seriously injured.

"You make kids fight in wars?" Sam questioned.

The centaur paused mid-step before turning his head to look sadly at the taller Winchester. "If it were up to me, not a single one of those kids would even be here. They'd all be safely tucked away in their homes, going to school like normal children, and would never have to worry about monsters or wars. However, it is not up to me."

With that the centaur clopped off towards the back of the house.

Dean made sure his smirk remained firmly on his face as he followed, trying hard not to think about how much the centaur was reminding him of Bobby. Bobby was like a father to him and had risked his life for him more times than he could count; this creature before him was just a monster and had no right to sound like Bobby.

Meanwhile, Sam was still bristling over the idea of children fighting in wars. How could anyone let these kids fight? How many had died fighting wars they never should have been involved in? What were they even fighting for? The camp? Their lives? The cherub-like god on the porch? Was that brother of Hermes creating an army of young kids and, if so, what for? More and more questions with little to no answers kept flitting across his mind, making him become more infuriated by the second.

The two still followed the centaur despite their displeasure and were led into a small office.

The boom-box that sat on top of the desk next to a computer was quietly playing some terrible Italian opera music.

We should use that to torture demons, Dean thought as the so-called music continued to cry out of the boom-box.

On a filing cabinet in the corner, a record-player sat with a few vinyl records stacked neatly in a crate on the floor. Hanging to the left of the filing cabinet was a small flat-screen television with the words "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, young demigod(s)" frozen in place on it. Pictures of kids in orange camp T-shirts littered the walls, one photograph showed a couple smiling campers holding deadly looking weapons while another showed a group playing volleyball with a couple satyrs.

One picture caught Dean's eye, upon closer examination, he saw that it was a picture of two mischievous looking twins in camp T-shirts giving the camera two thumbs-up. In between the twins was a very confused looking pizza delivery man.

Chiron noticed the picture that had caught the older Winchester's attention and explained, "The Stoll brothers, sons of Hermes, they're not twins but might as well be. They ordered pizza last year and that poor delivery man just wandered into camp. Still haven't figured out how they managed that one."

Dean glanced over at Sam to see that his eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were pursed like they always were when he was upset about something. He rolled his eyes as his younger brother opened his mouth to begin a lecture that Dean was sure would last for a few hours, if not days.

Before his brother could even begin his rant, the centaur spoke up, "Please, before you start interrogating me, watch this orientation video. It will clear up a lot of things, I'm sure."

The centaur inclined his head towards the small television but didn't take his eyes off the two humans. As the two hunters turned so that they could see the screen and still keep an eye on the centaur, the television came to life with some overly cheerful male voice asking if they were enjoying their first day at camp.

The video explained that the centaur in their peripheral vision was the activities director and the Chiron whom had trained such famous Greeks as Heracles, Jason, Achilles, among others. The angry man on the porch in the tacky shirt had been the god of wine, Dionysus (aka: Mr. D) and he was the camp director. All the kids in the camp were actually children of the Greek gods, and they were sometimes sent on quests by the gods.

However, when the demigods were not being sent on quests, they were participating in normal camp activities that included: arts and crafts, sword practice with actual swords, canoe rides, capture the flag, rock climbing, etc.

The only non-demigod child in the camp was the new Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare. From her picture on the screen, Dean could tell she was some rich family's rebellious artsy daughter as her designer jeans were ripped and covered in paint splatter and sharpie doodles.

Supposedly, the Winchesters were not supposed to be in this "Camp Half-Blood." No monster or mortal could enter the camp's boundaries without a god's blessing or something similar to that.

Sam understood now that the demigods were fighting to keep their one safe-haven from being destroyed or they were fighting battles that their godly parents could not. It still didn't sit well with him, though, and he was going to be sure to change that before they left.

Dean just stared at Chiron in unfiltered amazement.

"You trained the Hercules?" he asked incredulously.

He was standing before the trainer of legendary heroes. He'd almost shot the trainer of legendary heroes. Oh well, he'd already shot or almost shot Lucifer, a Knight of Hell, an angel, Crowley: the Asshat of Hell, and even a couple of gods. Shooting the trainer of his childhood heroes wouldn't have been that big of a deal, if he really thought about it.

Chiron chuckled before indicating that, that was not the most important question at the moment.

"The most important question right now," Sam declared, "is why are these all-powerful gods sending their children to fight their battles for them?"

Dean's newfound idol stared blankly at the taller Winchester, not comprehending how he'd come to that conclusion.

"Um, no," Chiron remarked. "Actually, the important question right now is how did you two get across the camp's borders? I know Mr. D and I did not grant either of you access, so one of the Olympians must have. But who? And why?"

The older Winchester's look of awe quickly turned into a scowl as he looked at his brother. "Great. Another ancient being wants to use us for their little scheme. Just what we need, another prophecy."

Both boys were now looking unimpressed, and a little annoyed, as they thought of the past few years of prophecies and world saving. They were more than ready to strangle the next deity or ancient being that declared them the main characters of some damn prophecy or half-assed plan to save the world from utter destruction.

Chiron gave a humorless laugh before informing them that it might not be a prophecy. He didn't sound too convincing to either the hunters or himself; but they figured if they found out it was a prophecy they could just walk out without ever risking their lives or free will.

Besides, the boys were a bit curious as to which ancient Greek god was willing to allow two skilled and armed hunters into a camp full of the gods' kids. That definitely did not make the Greek gods sound like very good parents. Then again, their dad had trained them to kill monsters when they were younger than most of the children they'd seen at this camp so far.

"Alright," Sam conceded. "Who let us in and why?"

The legendary centaur gazed thoughtfully at the two before admitting, "I'm not completely certain, but I can wager a guess as to who it could be."

Both of the boys raised an eyebrow at the centaur.

There was a nervous sigh before Chiron muttered, "I hope to Hades I'm wrong about this."

The Winchesters shared a nervous glance before turning back to Chiron to hear which god he thought was responsible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be up either Saturday or Sunday:) Sorry it's not longer... I've had an emotional past couple of days... Drama is silly and stressful and should've been left in high school but, alas, I shall live. I'll try to make the next chapter better... 'Till then I hope y'all liked this chapter:)


	4. Hunters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all my readers, especially CatatonicVanity, I’m sorry I left you with such a cliffhanger last time, I promise not to do that too much:)

The Apollo cabin had been transformed into a makeshift infirmary since the first floor of the Big House had been overrun with wounded. With all the available beds being occupied by the injured, the Apollo campers had been forced to sleep in the Hermes cabin until the wounded healed or could be moved elsewhere.

Nico found Will Solace leaning against the side of the Apollo cabin looking like he hadn’t slept in days, and knowing him he probably hadn’t. His golden hair was unusually flat, his bright smile had been replaced with a scowl, and his tan skin seemed almost as pale as Nico’s.

“Solace,” the son of Hades called out as he drew closer towards the normally cheerful camper.

Will’s head snapped up and his lips instantly spread into a smile. “Hey, Death Breath,” he greeted. Nico decided he most definitely preferred it when Will smiled. “Thought you were on guard duty all day?”

“Yeah, but I convinced Clarisse to go on duty a little early,” Nico replied.

The son of Apollo tilted his head in confusion reminding Nico of a puppy. It wasn’t like the brooding Death Boy to just ditch his post, he usually took his job guarding the camp very seriously.

"I kind of saved two mortals from the drakon on the hill," Nico began. "Mr. D wants to turn them into dolphins for something the two guys did to Hermes last year. So, I figured that I had done a good enough job guarding that I should take a break and help you in the infirmary."

Solace chuckled. "Aw, you missed me that much?"

He’d said it as a joke but there was an undertone that told Nico that he’d been missed, too. Being missed by someone was a new experience for the young Italian and the thought of someone missing him if he disappeared in the night kept him from running away from camp when things got bad. And camp could get pretty bad, especially with the judgmental looks he got or the rumors he kept hearing, but seeing Will everyday made it all worth it in the long run.

Nico blushed involuntarily as he tried to fight the skeletal butterflies in his stomach. How could one boy cause him to become a nervous mess with just one smile?

"Shut it, Solace."

The blue eyed boy opened his mouth to reply when someone grabbed Nico roughly by his collar and turned him around.

He'd gone from staring at a pair of eyes the color of a cloudless summer sky to a pair of electric blue ones.

The person before Nico had black, choppy hair with a circlet braided into it and a mouth that was set in a thin line. The person’s silvery Hunter clothing glowed softly in the afternoon light as she glared down at the young son of Hades. Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus.

"Why the hell did you let the Winchesters into this camp?" she asked quietly with barely concealed contempt in her voice when she said the name Winchester.

Nico shrunk as the words slammed into him. Fear coursed through him, causing him to shake like a leaf. If he told her the truth, maybe she would spare his life? He might be the god of the dead's son but even he knew to be afraid of the immortal daughter of Zeus.

"They were already inside the camp being chased by the drakon when I found them!"

His words had the desired effect as Thalia released her hold of him. Her glare redirected itself towards the Big House. As the silence crept in around them, Thalia quietly stalked away.

A warm hand landed gently on his shoulder, he didn’t have to turn around to know that the hand belonged to Solace.

“I think you should’ve just let the drakon eat those guys, the drakon would be more likely to show them mercy,” said the warm, musical voice of the Apollo camper. “Poor guys, they don’t stand a chance. Better them than you, though. Can’t have my favorite and cutest helper getting killed by angry Hunters, now can we?”

Still shaken from his close encounter with the Hunter of Artemis, Nico didn’t have the energy to even attempt to fight the blush that crept onto his cheeks at Will’s words.

Austin, another Apollo camper, came out of the makeshift infirmary to inform Will that he was desperately needed inside. Nico followed the young doctor into the infirmary, temporarily forgetting his fear as he handed his favorite doctor some clean bandages.

Meanwhile, Thalia was storming up to the Big House to demand an explanation as to why those two sorry excuses for hunters were in the camp.

She’d heard all about the Winchesters and their “hunts”. They were a part of a group that had, insultingly, taken the title “hunters”. Fighting monsters and magical creatures with bullets and twigs, they were a joke and an insult to real Hunters. These “hunters” were idiots that usually killed creatures for simply existing and treated their murder like some kind of victory. And no “hunter” was more well-known for their so-called hunts than the Winchesters.  
Just as she was about to barge into the Big House, the door opened, revealing the two “hunters” and her old mentor in centaur form.

Out of shock, everyone froze for a second. The two men blinked in confusion at the angry teenager with the choppy hair while she stared daggers at them.

Chiron broke the tense silence, “Thalia, I would like you to meet the Winchesters.”

The daughter of Zeus bristled at the sound of that name. “I’ve heard of them. They shouldn’t be here.”

“Someone seems to think otherwise,” Chiron explained.

“I swear to Zeus, if you say Hera had anything to do with this…” Thalia started.

“No, Hera’s trying her hardest to get back on Zeus’s good side after all the pain her last plan caused, I doubt she would do this so soon,” interrupted Chiron. Glancing apprehensively towards the darkening sky, the centaur continued, “I believe it may have been Athena who was responsible. At least, partially.”

Thalia’s eyebrows shot up in shock. A god endangering two camps at the same time? There were an endless amount of suspects, starting with Hera and Ares. But Athena? Athena was probably third on Thalia’s Least Likely To Endanger Demigods On Purpose list, behind Hestia and Artemis. Normally, Apollo would’ve been third but after he’d pressured her to drive the sun chariot a few years ago, she’d put him in the top 10 of her Most Likely To Kill A Demigod list.

The taller Winchester spoke with a strange combination of confidence and timidness, like he was confident he knew what he was talking about but was terrified of upsetting someone by speaking. “According to Chiron, the goddess of wisdom gave me safe passage into this camp. As for my brother Dean, it was…”

“Ares, god of war,” the shorter of the two, Dean, said with a smirk. “That sounds so much cooler than “goddess of wisdom”.”

If that short one’s Dean, then the tall hippie must be Sam Winchester, Thalia thought. I wonder if Dean has insecurities about being so much shorter than his baby brother?

Thalia tuned back into the conversation to hear the last bit of Chiron’s speech. “... odd for them to work together. This must be extremely important for them to see past their differences and for Ares to even listen to Athena’s plan… This doesn’t bode well for anyone in camp.”

“Then let’s kick them out or, better yet, let the Hunters use them for target practice,” Thalia helpfully suggested.

Her old mentor gave her a half-hearted glare before shifting his gaze to the two mortals before him. “I could be wrong or just be jumping to conclusions, we won’t know anything for sure unless the gods choose to come forth in some way to make it clear who’s responsible. However, the gods aren’t exactly hiding their magic on you two, so I highly doubt I’m wrong. And if Athena and Ares are working together on something, it has to be serious and we should not take it lightly.”

The two brothers shared a silent conversation. Sam was being the most “vocal” with his overly animated faces and Dean was only contributing to the conversation with a disgruntled frown. In the end, it looked like Dean won as his frown morphed back into a smirk.

“We’ll stay and see what’s going on,” Sam sighed in frustration.

Dean clapped his hands and turned to face the centaur. “Now, where can I sign up to climb that lava rock wall?”

His younger brother rolled his eyes at his brother’s excitement.

“I’ll take you to talk to Percy Jackson, he should be able to help you with that,” Chiron chuckled at the man’s eagerness.

“You sure we can’t use them as target practice? At least the short one,” Thalia asked. Dean’s left eye twitched slightly at her statement. So, he does have insecurities about his height. Good.

Her only other response was a chuckle and a pat on the head from Chiron. “Fine, but you two stay out of my way or I will gut you like the pigs you are, got it?”

Sam had enough decency to look terrified while Dean just scoffed.

Thalia groaned. “Lady Artemis, give me strength,” she muttered.


	5. Bonding

After the threat from the punk girl in silver, Dean had been directed to the Poseidon Cabin. The building was low and the walls were covered in rough gray stone with pieces of seashells and coral placed randomly to resemble the sea floor.

Glancing to the side, he could see his brother in the distance talking to some blonde girl in front of a gray cabin with an owl on it.

Dean had wanted to go immediately to the rock wall - how hard could climbing a wall be - but Chiron had insisted that he go speak to this Percy kid first.

As he went up to knock on the door, he overheard some mumbling coming from inside the cabin. From what he could make out, someone was cussing out a god or two.

He knocked on the door and a few more curses were uttered before the door opened revealing a tall, muscular blond with a small scar on the corner of his lip. Behind him a raven haired boy lay on the floor muttering curses at the goddess Hera as he held his knee to his chest.

Dean raised an eyebrow as the blond attempted to block the view of the other boy.

“You’re one of the guys Nico saved earlier, right?” the boy asked. “I’m Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. Glad to see Mr. D didn’t turn you into a dolphin.”

“Yeah, that would’ve sucked. I’m Dean Winchester,” Dean responded while attempting to get a view of the inside of the cabin. “I need to talk to a… um… Percy Johnson?”

A groan was heard from within the cabin before Jason was shoved aside by the raven haired boy. “It’s Percy Jackson. What can I help you with?”

The boy had messy black hair and bright sea-green eyes. He wore the same orange camp T-shirt that all the campers wore along with some shorts that barely hid a growing bruise on the guy’s knee.

Dean remembered the two young men from when he had first arrived at the Big House. And if he remembered correctly, that emo kid had said they were gay.

The elder of the Winchesters nodded towards the bruise, “What happened?”

Percy glared at the bed behind him, “My bed moved so I slammed my knee into it.” The son of Poseidon glared up at the sky before shouting, “Fuck you, too, Hera!”

Jason snorted from somewhere within the cabin. “Or, you’re just accident prone and need to watch where you’re going. And please don’t anger the gods, especially not that bit… I mean, that goddess.”

“Was that a curse word? Was the infamous Roman legionnaire about to cuss?” Percy feigned shock. He clutched at his heart. “How will I ever go on knowing our mighty hero has fallen so far?”

A pillow hit Percy in the back of the head as he leaned dramatically against the doorway.

Yep. Definitely gay, Dean thought as he watched the two interact.

Dean interrupted a mild wrestling match to address the son of Poseidon, “I don’t wanna interrupt you’re… uh… whatever this is, but Chiron said I needed to check with you before I went to the lava rock wall.”

Percy shot up, slamming his head on the bottom of a bunk bed in the process.

“Styx! I’m late for that!” Percy raced past Dean while Jason resignedly picked up a pair of shoes.

“Come on, you can follow me to the climbing wall,” Jason smiled apologetically. “He’s a bit, um, well, like his girlfriend says, he’s a bit of a Seaweed Brain.”

Dean froze for a second before continuing to follow the son of Jupiter. Not gay, then. Or maybe this girlfriend’s just a cover-up?

They strolled casually towards the enormous rock wall while Percy raced ahead of them. Jason still held a pair of sneakers in one hand, the other hand was rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced nervously at the older man.

“So,” he started, “what’d you do to Hermes?”

The hunter smirked at the memory of his attempt at ganking that god. “We ran into some empousa, ever heard of them?”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, Percy was attacked by a cheerleader squad of empousa twice. Once in school and then, more recently, he ran into them in Tartarus.”

Dean just stared at the blond in confusion for a moment before deciding that he did not, in fact, want to know the story behind either of those encounters. “Right. Well, we were investigating some murders and Hermes happened to be there. We thought he was working with them, so, we tried to gank the sonofabitch. Only, later, we found out that he was actually just trying to get the correct postage for a package he needed to deliver. Easy mistake, right?”

A look of worry crossed Jason’s face. “You may wanna watch out for the Hermes cabin. Especially, the Stoll brothers. Their more harmful pranks are usually directed at people who insult their father or their siblings. So, if they know about that, and they most likely do, then you should be prepared for a lot of nasty surprises.”

Before the hunter could reply, they reached the climbing wall where Percy was slamming his head into the wall repeatedly while grumbling about shoes.

“Calm down, Perce,” Jason said, patting his friend on the back. “I’ve got your shoes.”

Percy swiveled around with a smile on his face as he grabbed his sneakers from Jason. “Thanks, Sparky!”

As Percy jumped around, struggling to put his shoes on while still standing up, Dean looked up at the rock wall.

“So, what exactly is the big deal? I mean, why’d I have to find you before I went?” Dean asked.

“Oh, right,” Percy said as if he had completely forgotten about the man before him. “Well, basically, climb really fast. Otherwise, the walls will slam together or you’ll be burned by the lava or you could be hit by one of the falling boulders. So, as long as you’re fast you probably won’t die.”

All this had been said with a genuine smile and Dean was a little intimidated by the carefree attitude for a second.

“Think you can handle it?” Percy asked with a tone that made his question sound more like he was issuing a challenge.  
Dean shrugged out of his black military jacket and tossed it on the ground by Jason’s feet. “You bet. Think you can keep up with me, kid?” the Winchester retorted.

“You’re on, old man!” Percy challenged.

They reached out to grab a handhold as Jason grabbed Dean’s jacket. “Meet me in the sword arena when you guys are done and I’ll kick both your butts,” Jason called out.

“As if,” Dean and Percy scoffed in unison as they began to race up the rock wall.

Percy was gaining altitude but a falling boulder forced him to slow, allowing Dean to pass him.

While the two competitive men climbed the wall, Sam was discussing the history of Camp Half-Blood and Greeks with a daughter of Athena. Chiron had instructed him to go speak with the head counselor of the Athena Cabin so that he could do more research, unlike his brother who was off playing.

While he had wandered towards the gray cabin with an owl carved over the doorway, he had run into a young woman with her blonde curls pulled into a ponytail. The vast amount of wisdom lurking within her gray eyes had immediately told the younger Winchester that he’d found the head counselor.

The young girl introduced herself as Annabeth Chase and claimed that she was, in fact, the head counselor of the Athena cabin. Her face had lit up when Sam had asked her if she would mind teaching him the history of the demigod camp.

Within a few minutes, they were seated in the middle of the Athena cabin with a pile of books and atlases surrounding them as Annabeth explained. She had already explained how the camp had been protecting demigods for over three millennia and how some famous individuals like George Washington had been demigods. Sam also learned that the World Wars, Civil War, and a few other wars had been caused by warring gods and demigod armies.

Annabeth was almost halfway through her lesson on the Titan War and the events that led up to it when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” the daughter of Athena said while holding an atlas open for Sam to view a map of the United States with a few of the known entrances to the Labyrinth marked on it.  
The door opened to reveal a dark tanned skin girl with eyes that couldn’t seem to make up their mind about what color they wanted to be. Her hair was uneven and choppy with thin braids placed periodically throughout.

“Oh,” she remarked upon noticing the man that towered over Annabeth. “Hello, I’m Piper McLean. Are you a, uh, new camper?”

She seemed on edge and kept averting her gaze from the hunter. Sam felt something was off as he replied, “No, I’m Sam Winchester. I’m only here because I recently gained a patron goddess of wisdom.”

Piper swallowed loudly before muttering, “Oh.”

Upon hearing the nervousness in her friend’s voice, Annabeth looked up at Piper with a piercing gaze. “Piper, what are you hiding?”

“What?” the young girl replied a little too quickly. “I’m not hiding anything! You know, I think I hear Jason calling my name. I should go see what he wants!”

With that she turned on her heel and fled the cabin, leaving the door open as the two researchers stared on in confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Piper’s hiding something, wonder what it is… This is a bit of a cliffhanger, sorry… But it’s not as bad as that last oneXD lol  
> This chapter was more for an introduction of characters… Sorry if this isn’t the best but I tried:)


	6. Unease

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so now the story is going to be more plot driven:) Sorry the past few chapters were more filler than anything lol

After wandering around the camp for almost an hour, Piper finally found her boyfriend in the sword arena training with Percy and a handsome man in his late twenties. Surprisingly, the older man was easily fending off the two skilled heroes.

The daughter of Aphrodite stood awkwardly to the side as she watched the three train together. Percy was attacking the man from the front while Jason attacked from above but the man was easily fending them off with a smirk on his face.

"I let you win at the climbing wall. I'm not letting you win this, too, Barnacle Breath," the man taunted.

Percy lunged forward as the man moved to block a strike from Jason. The man dodged just in time but Riptide still managed to cut the man's shirt.

"That all you got, Gramps?" Percy teased.

If Piper didn't know any better she would have said the son of Poseidon was out of breath. Even Jason seemed to be struggling to stay up in the sky.

Piper hid behind one of the columns that encircled the arena as she watched the three men battle and listened to their good-natured banter. The man battling her two friends and the man hanging out with Annabeth were not supposed to be here. She and the other campers had just finished fighting a war, they didn't need this.

She'd been having dreams lately of these two men coming into camp, none of the dreams had ended well. They'd begun about two days after the war with Gaea had officially ended. It hadn't even been a week and the gods were already trying to screw with their lives again.

A startled cry snapped her out of her thoughts. Jason had been knocked out of the sky and laid sprawled out on the ground with the man's foot on his chest. Percy had somehow been disarmed and now had a sword to his throat.

"What was that about kicking my butt, Blondie?" the man joked as he helped the blond up.

Percy laughed as he slung an arm over the older man's shoulder. "You're alright, Dean."

Sam and Dean, the Winchesters, the brothers that were going to destroy the camp.

"Jason," Piper spoke up as she walked out from behind the column. "Would you mind going for a walk with me to the beach?"

She'd attempted a smile to make it seem like a casual date, but Jason knew her too well.

"What's the matter, Pipes?" he asked as he looked at her with his blue eyes full of concern.

Dean was giving her the same distrusting look his brother had given her earlier.

"Everything's fine, Sparky," she attempted a cheerful demeanor again. "I just wanted to go for a walk along the beach before the sun set, that's all."

That sounded too cliche, even to her. She was so nervous about being near one of the men that haunted her nightmares that her charmspeak was about as effective as Riptide was a writing instrument.

Jason seemed to catch on as he slowly nodded his head and excused himself from the budding bromance triangle.

The couple walked down towards the beach in silence. Just as they were about to reach the sand, Jason gently grabbed Piper's wrist to get her to stop. She stopped walking but continued staring out at the ocean.

"Pipes, what's really going on?" Jason prodded.

The daughter of the love goddess swallowed. "I've been having nightmares for the past couple days and they always involve that man and his brother. The Winchesters."

Jason waited patiently as his girlfriend tried to sort through her thoughts. When she finally looked up to face him, she met his gentle gaze.

"Athena and Ares are using them for something, I don't really know what," she started. "But, those men are going to destroy the camp. Every night I dream that those two men show up and the next thing I know the camp's in ruins with some demonic creatures running rampant. The only people that I can tell to have survived are those two brothers, some constipated man in a trench coat, and another man in a suit."

The waves crashed into the shore as the sun began to set. A few campers were relaxing on the beach a little ways away from the couple. It was the perfect setting for a romantic walk along the beach, but the mood had been effectively ruined by Piper's admission.

"I think there might be more to your dream than what you're seeing," Jason said after a moment. "Dean doesn't seem like someone who would destroy the camp just because a god told him to. He's too much like Percy to willingly be a god's puppet."

Piper thought over this for a moment. She hadn't really thought about the Winchesters possibly being good guys. Maybe the war had, had more of an effect on her than she'd thought.

"I'm sorry, I overreacted."

Jason shrugged. "Nah, you're just worried, Pipes. We'll go talk to Chiron about this and see if Rachel's got any prophecies for us."

Back in the sword training arena, Percy was putting up his sword as Dean leaned against a column nearby.

"So, Ares, huh?" Dean had just finished explaining how he and his brother had been recruited by Ares and Athena. "He's a bit of a douche if you ask me. Athena's alright, but I have to say that since I am dating her daughter."

Percy placed Riptide in pen form in his pocket while Dean stared at him like he'd grown a second head. The two began to make their way back towards the cabins as Percy filled Dean in on the important things he needed to know about Camp Half-Blood.

"Alright, first off, don't piss off Thalia. Her bite is far worse than her bark." The raven haired boy laughed at his pun while Dean just rolled his eyes. "Secondly, Hera's a bitch and you should never ask her for favors because she'll end up using you to destroy primordial goddesses."

Dean raised an eyebrow and shook his head but remained silent.

"If you see a giant hellhound, don't try to kill her. Her name is Mrs. O'Leary and, minus the drool, she's harmless. Let's see... Oh! Whenever you eat at the dinner pavilion, be sure to drop some food in the fire as a sacrifice for a god, like Ares since he is your patron god. I'm sure Jason's already told you to stay away from the Hermes cabin since you did try to kill their dad and they are the prank masters of this camp. I think that's all… Just don't piss off any gods or start any wars and you should be fine."

They reached the Poseidon cabin just as the son of the sea god finished his list of the do's and don'ts of Camp Half-Blood. He left the cabin door open for Dean to follow him inside so the older Winchester walked in after a brief moment of uncertainty.

Inside, the Winchester observed the six bunk beds and the walls that glowed like abalone. The lone inhabitant of the cabin sat down on his bunk and Dean joined him a few seconds later.

"I live here alone whenever my brother Tyson isn't at camp, which is quite often," Percy informed the hunter. "He's a cyclops and not the brightest, but he's always got my back. He's the one that made those."

Percy pointed up at the celestial bronze hippocampi that hung from the ceiling with a fond look upon his face.

Before he knew it, Percy was telling Dean all about when he'd first met Tyson and how they'd gone through the Sea of Monsters together. This led to the son of the sea god and the hunter swapping stories about monsters they'd killed and wars they'd fought in. Even this casual swapping of stories, however, quickly led to a competition and before long…

"I went through Tartarus!" Percy boasted.

Dean scoffed, "Oh, that's cute, kid. I've been through Hell so many times I've got the King of Hell on speed dial. I've even been to Heaven and one of my closest pals is an angel."

This boast was met with a disbelieving look from Percy. "You're friends with an angel? Prove it, Buffy."

The man before him closed his eyes and bowed his head as if he were about to pray. However, just then, the door to the cabin burst open and Nico was panting in his doorway.

"You alright, Nico?" Percy asked. He was answered with more gasps for breath from the son of Hades. "Wow, Solace really did a number on you, didn't he? Should I tell him to take it easy on you next time?"

Nico's face turned a hundred different shades of red and it was the funniest thing Percy had ever seen.

"Shut it, Jackson!" Nico shouted as he tried to hide his face behind his shaggy hair. "Don't make me send you back to Tartarus."

Percy tried to tame his giggles and only managed to stop them for a second.

The pale Italian huffed angrily and crossed his arms as he glared at his ex-crush. "This is why you're not my type."

"Uggggggh…" Percy groaned. His giggles stopped as he fell backwards to lay on his bed with an arm moving to cover his eyes.

Nico snorted before informing them as to why he'd shown up so suddenly. "Anyways, Chiron's holding an important camp meeting with all the head counselors and the Winchesters after the campfire. I had to tell you before I went to dinner and Solace is saving me a spot so I gotta go."

"Okay, run along, Juliet," Percy joked. "Can't keep your Romeo waiting."

The son of Hades hesitated in the doorway as he debated on if he had time to run the son of Poseidon through with his sword. Instead, he decided that Will was more important and took off towards the dining pavilion.

"Come on, Buffy," Percy said as he stood up from his bed. "Time for dinner, you can prove you're friends with angels later."

Dean stood up beside him to stretch. "I'll race you there, Aqualad."

"That's Aquaman, to you," Percy corrected as he and Dean took off towards the dining pavilion.

Just as they were passing Zeus's cabin, however, someone called out to Dean and the two slowed to look behind them at the tall hippie in a military jacket that had called out to Percy's new friend.

"Sam, I presume? I'm Percy Jackson," Percy stuck a hand out as the giant came closer.

Percy was tall but this guy still had a good four inches or so on him. As the man grabbed his hand, the son of the sea god had to tilt his head up to gape at the tall man.

"Thought you said he was your little brother?"

Dean playfully shoved the raven haired boy who just laughed.

"Nice to meet you, Percy," Sam said awkwardly. "You must be Annabeth's boyfriend. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to borrow my brother for a minute."

The two brothers shared a silent conversation before Dean promised to beat Percy in a race later. With that the two newcomers walked off in the opposite direction of the dining pavilion leaving Percy to walk to dinner alone.

Once there, he found his usual group of friends at what used to be the Hades table. Ever since the war with Gaia had ended, Chiron had done away with the rule that the campers could only sit with their cabin mates. Since the rule had been abolished, Will Solace had immediately started sitting with Nico di Angelo and Percy had gotten the rest of the remaining Seven to sit with them.

Now, Jason and Piper sat together across the table from Will and Nico. Beside Nico were Hazel and Frank who had been ordered by Reyna to prolong their stay until the rest of Camp Jupiter's injured were ready to leave. And next to Piper was Percy's Wise Girl.

The daughters of Aphrodite and Athena were deep in a serious conversation while Jason occasionally put his two cents in. Of course, everything the legendary legionnaire said fell on deaf ears as the two girls continued their discussion. Will and Nico were stealing glances at each other whenever Solace wasn't demanding Nico eat more. Hazel was picking on her brother while Frank seemed content just to remain silent and hold her hand.

Percy grabbed a plate of food and dumped some pizza into the fire in the center of the pavilion as a sacrifice to his father.

"'Sup, guys?" Percy called out as he took his seat beside Annabeth. "Miss me, Wise Girl?"

"Shhh…" was the only response he got from his long-term girlfriend.

Ah, love, Percy thought to himself.

"Where's the infamous sword fighter we heard beat your butts?" Will Solace asked.

Jason glanced quickly at Piper who hadn't even seemed to have heard anything, before he looked up to meet Percy's eyes. They shared a defeated look before they blurted out, "He cheated."

"I dunno how he did it, but he had to have cheated," Percy argued.

Jason was saying at the same time, "Only Nico can beat both of us at the same time. There's no way that guy could beat us without cheating."

Nico rolled his eyes but before he could make a smartass retort, Will slung an arm over his shoulders and his words died on his lips.

"I bet Death Boy could beat this new guy," Will challenged.

The notorious son of Hades had to hold in an embarrassing giggle as his crush slid his arm down to wrap around his waist. His face was probably a whole new shade of red but he could not have cared less.

Percy and Jason were sporting matching smirks as they watched the two. Even Hazel was trying hard not to smile or make an embarrassing comment about Solace's arm placement.

"So, Solace," Percy started. "Since you're Nico's type now."

The blushing Italian slammed his head into the table. Goddamit, Percy!

A strangled laugh issued from Jason but he managed to cover it up with a cough before he continued where Percy left off, "What are your intentions for our innocent little flower that is the Ghost King?"

The innocent little flower in question currently had every intention of slaughtering the two dumbasses across from him. The only reason he hadn't already was because Will's arm had tightened reassuringly around his waist.

"Why, Percy, do you want lessons?" Will retorted. "Lesson One: Don't Ignore the Guy's Feelings."

Out of all the times the two whispering girls could have tuned in, this was the moment they decided to do it. Annabeth and Piper's faces were turning red from their attempts at hiding their laughter. Jason choked on a bite of his hamburger.

This time it was Percy's turn to slam his head into the table. "How many times do I have to apologize for that?"

Will looked extremely proud of himself as his arm tightened slightly around the smaller boy beside him. Nico struggled not to laugh uncontrollably at how utterly destroyed Percy looked.

As Percy was recovering, Dean and Sam made their way towards them with a plate of food in hand. Halfway to the table, however, Dean grabbed his brother's arm and directed him to the fire. Once at the fire the older Winchester did as Percy had instructed him to earlier and dumped some barbeque into the fire. His brother stared at him in confusion for a second before following suit.

Once their sacrifices were finished, the two walked over to the old Hades table and sat down. Dean immediately took up a place next to Percy while Sam sat awkwardly down beside Frank Zhang who looked just as awkward.

"This is Dean and his brother Sam Winchester," Percy introduced. "This is Annabeth Chase, my Wise Girl; Piper McLean, resident beauty queen; Jason Grace, the blond Superman; Will Solace, he's a doctor; Nico di Angelo, the Ghost King; Hazel Levesque, she's a gold digger; and Frank Zhang, he doubles as our pet dragon."

The entire group rolled their eyes at Percy's introductions before greeting the two Winchesters. Piper still seemed on edge but having discussed her dreams with Jason and Chiron she was feeling a little more relaxed about the whole situation. Chiron and Jason didn't seem too worried about it so maybe it was all a huge misunderstanding.

As Percy, Jason, and Dean started arm wrestling each other, Chiron watched apprehensively from his seat at the front of the dining pavilion. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the two newcomers or Piper's dreams. He was, however, certain that the future of Camp Half-Blood did not look as bright as it had a couple of days ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was more plot driven and the next chapter will have even more plot and there will be some more Supernatural characters showing up soon;)
> 
> Also, holy crap I finished this way faster than I thought I would... I was just so excited to continue this story... I wrote non-stop for like 6 hours and then edited it for 2 days lol:) hope y'all like this chapter it's the longest so far:)


	7. Emotions

Dean couldn't remember a time he had felt so free or happy. He'd made friends and climbed rock walls with lava and even won a sword fight against two of Camp Half-Blood's best swordsmen. If he thought about it, this was like the childhood he never had. There had been no time for fun or friends growing up, if training to be a hunter had been as fun as it was to train as a demigod he probably wouldn't have been so emotionally damaged.

But that was only if he thought about it long enough, and thinking about things too much led to feeling too much and Dean didn't want his emotions to ruin his first day at camp.

So, when Sam pulled him away from his new found friend Percy Jackson in an attempt to make him think, he'd been a bit annoyed. Sammy was worrying too much. Something about prophecies and crazy hunter shit. Dean really didn't even try to listen as Sam spoke.

The only thing he actually caught was, "Dean, are you even listening?" which was followed by a slap to his arm.

"No," Dean admitted. "Just relax, Sammy. What's the worst that could happen? We've already beat Lucifer and got your soul back. Whatever is going on here, we can handle it together, alright?"

He patted his younger brother's shoulder before giving him one of his many smirks.

"Now, let's go get some food! I heard the plates and cups refill themselves," Dean said excitedly as he turned to make his way towards the dining pavilion again.

"But, Dean, Crowley is…" Sam called out as his brother continued to walk away.

After a few seconds of silent grumbling, Sam resignedly followed his brother.

The two quickly found the magical cups and plates Dean had mentioned and were making their way towards Percy's table when the older Winchester remembered something the son of Poseidon had told him earlier.

Dean guided his brother to the fire and whispered, "Throw some of your food into the fire as a sacrifice to your patron god. Percy told me it's kind of a tradition of sorts to keep the gods happy."

His brother stared at him like he'd lost his mind but followed Dean's example nevertheless.

Alright, Ares, Dean thought, I'm glad to be here and all, so, thanks, I guess. But whatever you and the nerd goddess are planning, it had better not include any wars or shit. If you're planning a war then man up and fight it your own damn self.

With that nicely worded thanks to the god of war, the two hunters continued on their way to Percy's table. Dean, of course, sat next to his new friend while Sam sat next to an equally awkward black-haired man.

"This is Dean and his brother Sam Winchester," Percy introduced. "This is Annabeth Chase, my Wise Girl; Piper McLean, resident beauty queen; Jason Grace, the blond Superman; Will Solace, he's a doctor; Nico di Angelo, the Ghost King; Hazel Levesque, she's a gold digger; and Frank Zhang, he doubles as our pet dragon."

The pet dragon nodded awkwardly in their general direction while his gold digger girlfriend smiled politely at each of them. "I'm a daughter of Pluto and Frank is a son of Mars. We're both from Camp Jupiter, actually Frank's one of the Praetors back at camp."

The pride in Hazel's voice made the Praetor's face turn red as a tomato.

"Mars is the Roman form of Ares, right?" Dean asked after a moment of thinking. A few nods in his direction were his only answer. "So, are they like two separate beings or are the gods bipolar or suffering from multiple personality disorder or what?"

Nico leaned forward a bit in his seat to look at Dean when he answered, "All the above."

Dean deemed that an appropriate answer while Sam pursed his lips in confusion.

"We met earlier, I'm Piper, daughter of Aphrodite," the resident beauty queen said amiably.

Sam stared at her with a skeptical expression. "You gonna run away if I speak to you, like you did earlier?"

The daughter of Aphrodite giggled awkwardly. "Sorry about that, I was freaking out over something and I wasn't expecting you to be in the Athena cabin. Sorry."

She jumped a little when Jason reached out to hold her hand but calmed instantly upon looking at his face. Jason gave her a perplexed look before shrugging it off and focusing on the rest of his friends again.

"So," the blond doctor started, "this is the infamous Dean Winchester that kicked Percy and Jason's butts. Wish I could've seen that."

"He cheated," Percy and Jason exclaimed in unison.

Sam turned to his brother for an explanation.

"I beat these two losers in a sword fight," Dean explained. "And I did it fair in square, not my fault you two don't know how to use a sword."

"Dean, you don't know how to use a sword," Sam interjected.

Silence fell on the table for a few solid seconds before Will and Nico busted out laughing. "You guys got beat by an amateur?" Will said between laughs.

Before long every one of the campers were doubled over laughing, except for Percy and Jason who were staring blankly at the older Winchester with their mouths hanging open. Dean looked from his brother to the rest of the table in bewilderment. Meanwhile, Sam's face was a mixture of confusion and fear.

"You don't know how to use a sword?" Percy muttered. "Then how in Hades did you…" he paused for a second. "Ares!"

Jason stared at the son of Poseidon for a second before understanding lit up his face. "Ares gave you the ability to beat us. So, you did cheat!"

Sam nodded in understanding. "Ah, that makes more sense."

His older brother shot him an annoyed glare that was accompanied by a swift kick to the shin. With a painful grunt, Sam sent his brother an angry look while attempting to rub the pain in his leg away.

The two powerful demigods that his brother had beaten were now demanding a rematch without any gods interference to prove that they were better. Somehow this demand for a rematch led to the two demigods and Dean holding an arm wrestling match to find out which was the strongest.

While the three competitors moved to the end of the table to hold their arm wrestling match, Sam glanced at Annabeth who was currently face-palming, probably because she was dating an idiot.

After the daughter of Athena had explained the history of Camp Half-Blood, the two of them had started discussing possible reasons Ares and Athena might have allowed the Winchesters into camp. None of the possibilities they'd thought up had been even remotely positive. Athena and Ares would not agree on anything unless it was serious which usually meant shit was about to hit the fan.

Then Chiron had stopped by to inform the two of them off the meeting after the campfire sing-a-long, which sounded like a type of torture technique to Sam. Annabeth had immediately been suspicious of the sudden call for a meeting and had demanded Chiron tell her what was going on so she would be prepared.

The old centaur had smiled tiredly at her before informing her of Piper's nightmares. Upon hearing the descriptions of the two men who had been with him and Dean in the dream, Sam had immediately known who the two were. Castiel and Crowley were going to be showing up in Camp Half-Blood and soon, if this daughter of the love goddess's dreams were anything to go by.

What if the convergence of two differing religions was going to cause a war? It happened with the Greeks and Romans, could it happen with the Greeks and whatever crackpot religion Crowley and Castiel belonged to? What if Crowley was going to try and send demons here to get more souls? What if the angels were going to try to do that? What if the gods were going to try and use him and Dean like Michael and Lucifer had? What if…

Someone poked Sam in the nose, effectively stopping him from giving himself an anxiety attack. When he finally focused on what was going on around him, he found his brother staring at him with a look that just screamed "Sammy, you're making me look like the normal one, keep it up." Next to Dean was the person who had poked Sam's nose, it was the blond doctor who had been hitting on that Nico kid a few minutes ago.

When did he move? Sam thought briefly.

"You alright?" Will questioned with genuine concern evident in his voice.

Sam spluttered for a second in an attempt to seem like he hadn't just spaced out like an idiot. "Yeah, um, yeah. I'm fine just thinking."

Percy sniffed. "'Bout Annabeth? I saw the way you were looking at my woman. She's taken, you know, 'cause I'm her type."

That last bit seemed to be aimed at Nico who just groaned in annoyance.

"Percy, my gods, it's been four days already," Nico complained. "Let it go."

Will was still staring at Sam with extreme worry in his blue eyes. "You sure you're alright, man? I can take you to the infirmary and get you something if you're not feeling okay?"

He seemed so genuinely worried that it shocked Sam. Why was this stranger so concerned about his health?

"No, I'm just still trying to get over, ya' know," he gestured around him to show that he was still in shock over the camp. Which wasn't a complete lie, the camp was a huge shock and he was still trying to wrap his mind around it. But in reality he was acting strangely because of the whole imminent danger that seemed to follow him and Dean wherever they went.

The young doctor didn't appear to believe him. "I'll go get you some aspirin to help with that headache."

Sam narrowed his eyes at the boy. "How'd you know I had a headache?"

Will's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh?" He seemed genuinely confused by Sam's suspicion, then something clicked in those blue eyes. "Oh! Right, I'm a son of Apollo, the god of medicine, music, poetry…"

"I, personally, believe that last one should be taken off his resume," Percy interrupted. "Have you ever heard his haikus? A monkey could write better poetry."

"Anyways," Will said after a quick glare at Percy, "my father gifted me with his medicinal abilities. So, I can tell when someone is not feeling well and, usually, I can tell what exactly is wrong. Most of my siblings are exceptional archers, musicians, etc. I'm just a useless healer."

The sadness in the young man's voice caused Sam and Dean to look up at him. A shadow passed over the son of Apollo's face before he tilted his head up and smiled with forced cheerfulness.

"I'll go get you some aspirin now." With that the blonde took off towards the Big House.

A few seconds passed before Nico stood up with a look of determination and concern manifesting on his face. "I gotta go."

"I think he might wanna be alone, Neeks," Jason scrunched up his eyebrows as he spoke.

Nico glared at the blonde Superman. "I don't give a shit what he thinks he wants right now. He shouldn't be alone. I'm not like you all, I'm not gonna just ignore someone 'cause they're hurting or lost."

A few people at the table suddenly found their plates very interesting while Nico huffed angrily before running off after Will.

Percy shoved his plate aside and glanced up at Sam with a sad smile. "I really fucked up his life."

"A lot of us did," Annabeth whispered as she stared off in the distance.

Frank shifted uncomfortably beside Sam until Hazel patted his arm reassuringly.

Dean was gazing off in the direction Will and Nico had gone with a look of grim understanding. He'd heard all about the hell Nico had been through and how his life had been one big shitfest until recently. Losing his mother at a young age, Dean could relate. And the fact he'd been able to function at all after losing his sister forever, that was something Dean could respect since he knew how hard losing a sibling could be. 'Course he'd never gone through Tartarus alone, but he had been trapped in Hell for awhile and he was sure it was about the same thing.

I need to talk to that kid later, Dean thought before turning his attention back to the people around him.

Sam was giving him a weird look so he smirked at him which caused his brother to roll his eyes.

Beside Dean, Percy stood up which seemed to be the signal for the rest of the group to stand. As the group started to get up and leave, Piper noticed the two brothers hadn't moved and motioned for them to follow.

Dean grabbed a burger before he and Sam followed the large group of campers out of the dining pavilion. As Dean ate the hamburger, the group led them towards an amphitheater area where a large campfire was lit. The fire was glowing like a normal fire but occasionally it flickered a dull blue.

The group the two Winchesters had unofficially joined sat down towards the middle of the stands and the brothers joined them without hesitation. After a few moments, more campers filed in along with Nico and Will. The latter left Nico's side to join a group of campers that also looked like lazy surfer kids.

Annabeth, Piper, and their idiots sat closest to the top; the brothers, Frank, and Hazel sat below them. Nico walked up the steps to sit next to Dean who quirked an eyebrow at the dark haired Italian.

The son of Hades kept his eyes trained on Will, though.

"He alright?" Dean asked so quietly that only Nico would be able to hear him.

Nico barely glanced at the hunter. "He will be."

Dean grunted in response before turning his attention back to the campfire where the surfer kids, who he assumed were the Apollo campers, were setting up with musical instruments.

"Thought the kid said he was just a healer? Not a musician?" Dean questioned.

"He can play a little ukulele," Hazel informed. "Occasionally, the Apollo campers stick him with the tambourine or the triangle, too."

The Apollo campers then led a round of camp songs that the two hunters found to be akin to torture as Sam had thought it would. Dean was pleased to see the young Italian was not joining in on the singing and looked just as grumpy as he felt about this whole situation. He liked the son of Hades, he didn't know why but he felt protective over him, almost like he was a third brother to him.

Speaking of which, Dean suddenly remembered Adam Winchester, his father's other, other son who was trapped in Hell still. He winced for a second before focusing on the song that was currently being sung, some song called "I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa". Meanwhile, the fire was now a bright gold and was reaching a height of about ten feet but the edges of the flame glowed an ominous purple.

When the torture finally ended, the two Winchesters sighed in relief. Even Nico relaxed a bit as Will rejoined the group.

Chiron stepped onto the platform where the Apollo campers had been a moment before.

"Before you all leave, I wish to notify you that all the head counselors of each cabin are to report to the Big House for a mandatory meeting," the centaur informed the gathered campers. "The rest of you should return to your cabins before the Harpies begin their patrol."

Will glanced at the two Winchesters as did a few other campers. Dean smirked at them out of habit to hide his embarrassment while Sam smiled like the awkward little dork he was and waved at nervously at the demigods before him.

Percy's hand landed on Dean's shoulder in an attempt to get his attention. "Come on, we should head over to the Big House now."

Hazel gave Frank a quick peck on the cheek before she left to, presumably, return to her cabin. The rest of the group headed towards the blue house.

"You're all head counselors?" Sam asked.

Jason smiled at him. "Yeah, well, with Percy and myself being the only members of our respective cabins we kind of have to be the head counselors. Annabeth is head of the Athena cabin, Piper's head of the Aphrodite cabin, Will's head of the Apollo cabin. Technically, Nico's the only son of Hades here, since Hazel's from Camp Jupiter. Frank isn't a head counselor, but he's acting as a representative of Camp Jupiter."

Frank glanced shyly at the Winchesters before blushing and looking back at his feet.

"Clarisse is head of the Ares cabin," Annabeth explained to the Winchesters. "The Stoll brothers are both the head counselors of the Hermes cabin. Hecate has Lou Ellen, Hypnos has Clovis, Artemis has Thalia, Iris has Butch, and…"

"Anyways," Annabeth continued, "Demeter has Katie Gardner and Dionysus has Pollux."

"So, Hermes has two kids with the last name Stoll and Demeter has a kid with the last name Gardner? Ironic much?" Dean joked.

The campers rolled their eyes, except Percy who turned around to walk backwards. "I know right? I'm glad someone else noticed!"

Sam's eyebrows scrunched up as he ran the names through his head a few times. "Wait, what about the god of the forge? Hephaestus?"

All the campers froze, Piper made a small whimper that might have been a choked sob. Percy swallowed before shakily continuing towards the Big House. "They don't have a head counselor right now."

Dean elbowed Sam in the side for asking rude questions.

They walked in silence into the Big House and down the hall to the rec room (AKA: meeting room). Inside, a large group of kids and Chiron sat around a ping-pong table.

Chiron sat at the head of the table, beside him sat a curly haired satyr who was eating ping-pong balls like they were popcorn. Frank took up a seat on the opposite side of Chiron while the others filed in and sat in their own seats, leaving the Winchesters to stand awkwardly in the doorway.

"Everyone this is Sam and Dean Winchester," Chiron introduced them. "Athena has declared herself the patron goddess of Sam, while Ares has become Dean's patron god."

The looks the two Winchesters received were a mixture of apprehension, disinterest, and amusement. Thalia openly scowled at the two and Sam had to fight the urge to cringe from the intensity of the Hunters stare.

Chiron then pointed to the satyr beside him and began to go around the table, introducing everyone to the Winchesters. "This is Grover; Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our Oracle; Katie Gardner; Pollux; Butch Walker; Lou Ellen; Travis and Connor Stoll; Clarisse; and… CLOVIS!"

The last name belonged to a sleeping baby cow-like camper. The camper's head sluggishly raised to look at the centaur with a glazed expression before falling right back to sleep.

Chiron groaned before motioning for Sam and Dean to take a seat between Percy and Jason.

"Now, to begin this meeting," Chiron began, "Piper, would you mind explaining your recent nightmares to everyone?"

Piper glanced around nervously before describing her dreams to the group. As she spoke, the gathered people's faces fell and a few glanced to Chiron with outright panic. Thalia resumed her glaring at the Winchesters while picking at her nails with a dagger. Grover was nervously gnawing on a ping-pong paddle while Rachel calmly doodled on her pants with a sharpie.

"So, we're all screwed?" Lou Ellen stated after Piper had finished.

"We could always kill them, that might fix everything," Clarisse suggested.

"I agree with that plan," Thalia agreed.

"Most of our campers are unable to battle and many more won't want to so soon after that last war," Will added.

"I doubt Camp Jupiter will want to fight another war, either," Frank muttered.

The meeting room devolved into chaos as the assembled campers debated and argued amongst each other over what to do. The Winchesters shared a terrified look as their fate was decided by a group of young adults.


	8. Angel

While Percy and Jason argued against killing the Winchesters, Thalia and Clarisse were all but demanding the hunters' heads. Annabeth shared an anxious look with Piper before slamming her hands onto the ping-pong table.

"Will you people please calm down?" she said calmly but forcefully. "If you would think about this logically, you'd see that if you tried to kill the Winchesters, Piper's dream would not come true." Thalia and Clarisse stood, brandishing their weapons. "However," Annabeth quickly added, "the outcome might be even worse than what Piper dreamed. You know the Fates will only make it worse on us if we try to defy them."

The two murderous women reluctantly sat down while the Winchesters breathed a sigh of relief.

Sam Winchester cleared his throat before Annabeth could provide the group with some more logical advice. "I believe my brother and I know the two other men in your dream, Piper," the long-haired man admitted.

Clovis's quiet snores could be heard as the rest of the campers and Chiron fell silent. As everyone, including Dean, focused their questioning gazes on Sam, the Winchester shifted nervously in his seat.

"The, um, "constipated man in a trench coat" is... " Sam explained.

Dean shot forward in his seat as if he'd been electrocuted. "Cas!"

His exclamation caused a few people to jump, it even woke Clovis up long enough for him to tell everyone to get out of his room.

"Uh, yeah," Sam agreed slowly. "And the man in a suit was most likely Crowley, he calls himself…"

Nico tilted his head back and groaned in annoyance.

Sam and Dean focused their gazes on Nico, silently asking if the son of Hades knew the King of Hell.

With an annoyed huff, Nico grumbled, "Crowley's the lowly demon who's calling himself the King of Hell, right?"

"How the hell…" Dean was giving the short teenager a suspicious look.

"When I was wandering through the Underworld a few years ago, I managed to somehow find myself in a smaller portion of the Fields of Asphodel reserved for Hell. Not quite the Christian Hell, since there's no Lucifer or Satan anymore, but something similar to it. Anyways, Crowley introduced himself as King of Hell and then tried to make some crossroad demon deal with me. Promised to bring my sister back from the dead, make Percy love me, make me famous in camp, etc."

Nico glanced awkwardly at Will, who only smiled encouragingly, before he continued with his story. "He gave off this kind of creepy car salesman vibe, so I told him no. However, he didn't want to take no for an answer, since he figured the son of Hades would have a powerful soul or could be used as a bargaining chip or whatever. When he kept pestering me, I kicked his ass and moved on."

The tired yawn after his explanation, showed exactly how worried he was about the whole situation. The Stoll brothers made a mental note to never cross the son of Hades.

The assembled campers visibly relaxed as they learned that at least one of the mysterious men in the dream could be easily dealt with. Percy glanced over at Dean who was now looking at Nico with respect. "Isn't Cas the name of your angel friend?"

"Yeah, told you I know angels," Dean said, his eyes meeting Percy's with a confident gaze.

Travis Stoll snickered. "I didn't know angels could get constipated."

His brother high-fived him as he started chuckling, Thalia graced the two of them with a snort. A few other campers giggled nervously while others (like Chiron) rolled their eyes at the brothers.

Dean instantly jumped to defend his angel friend. "He's not constipated, he's just easily confused. He would never cause any of you harm, especially if you're on our side."

With a cocky grin, Connor asked, "You sure you're not just biased, Lover Boy?"

The glare that was sent his way only encouraged the Stoll brothers to continue their teasing.

"Yeah," Travis practically purred, "maybe he isn't the little angel you think he is."

Angry shouts and curses were hurled at them as Dean's anger continued to build. His face was turning a lovely shade of crimson that was making his face seem funnier and funnier to the Stoll brothers.

The two brothers shared a mischievous grin before assaulting the hunter with verbal attacks.

"Does his constipation cause issues in your relationship?"

"Does he ever say he wishes you were tall like your little brother?"

"If you played baseball with your lover, would you play shortstop and he'd be your angel in the outfield?"

"At Christmas, do you put him on top of the Christmas tree?"

Dean slammed his hands on the ping-pong table and was probably about to leap over the table to strangle the brothers when a man's voice spoke from behind him. "I do not understand. I would physically not be able to stay on a Christmas tree."

Everyone in the rec room jumped. Except for Dean, who turned to look at the confused lummox in a dirty trench coat. "Cas, what've I told you about appearing behind me without warning?" Dean asked with a frustrated sigh.

"I believe last time you told me to 'get out of your ass'," Cas responded calmly.

The awe-inspired silence was disrupted as the Stoll brothers practically fell over each other in their fit of laughter. Even Percy and Jason were doubled over in a fit of giggles; the rest of the people in the room tried their hardest to hide their laughter, including Clovis who had woken up at some point. Sam failingly tried to hide his smirk behind his hand as his brother hung his head in defeat.

"Goddammit, Cas," Dean muttered.

The younger Winchester, whom the Stolls had dubbed Sasquatch in their minds, swallowed down a few giggles. "Cas, what brings you here?" His eyes were watering from his attempts to stop his laughter.

"I sensed that Dean was under a lot of stress and came to see if I could be of assistance," came Cas's indifferent reply.

When he heard Cas's response, Travis Stoll fell in the floor, howling with laughter. While Connor barely managed to keep himself in his chair.

"You came to… to…" Connor said between laughs, "to relieve... his stress?"

Before Cas could embarrass Dean anymore, Butch spoke up, "That's enough, Stolls."

The two brothers snickered quietly between themselves. Dean glared daggers at the two while Sasquatch looked at them with newfound respect.

When Chiron spoke up, the brothers became completely silent with only the occasional giggle escaping their lips. "Cas, correct? It's a pleasure to meet you."

Cas gave the centaur a confused look that reminded the Hermes kids of a puppy.

Chiron, upon noticing the angel's confusion, gave a paraphrased version of the orientation video along with the recent events involving Cas's human friends. After the brief summary, Cas nodded his head in understanding.

Just as Travis opened his mouth to make another teasing comment, Katie Gardner spoke up. "Wait, but if Crowley can be easily defeated and this angel isn't the threat, then what is?"

"Crowley isn't a threat?" Cas questioned slowly.

Dean shrugged as he nodded towards Nico. "Not to this kid, apparently."

Cas's eyes narrowed and his constipated expression turned to an icy glare as he looked at the Ghost King. The angel had gone from hilariously stupid looking to completely terrifying in about point five seconds.

Any and all snarky commentary the Stolls had died in their throats. They even thought twice about pulling pranks on the two hunters. Of course, even those second thoughts resulted in them deciding to continue with the plans, anyways.

"We'll discuss this tomorrow," Chiron stated while stifling a yawn. "For now, you all should get back to your cabins. Sam, you'll be staying in the Athena cabin and Dean, Percy informed me earlier that you were welcome to stay in the Poseidon cabin if the Ares cabin was too… hostile."

He and Dean shared a fist bump and smiled like they'd just won the lottery.

"As for you, Cas," Chiron said at length, "You're welcome to stay in the Big House or the Hermes cabin."

Cas furrowed his brow at the activities director. "Why can't I stay with Dean or Sam?"

"He's welcome to stay with us," Percy offered.

Travis chuckled. "I'd keep a close eye on those two lovebirds, if I were you, Percy."

With that the head counselors disbanded and headed off to their separate cabins.

Lou Ellen sniggered quietly as she headed off to the Hecate cabin. The oldest Winchester was making it almost too easy for the Stolls to tease him and that cute angel boy was only making matters worse for the poor hunter.

As she turned the corner around one of the other cabins, she caught a glimpse of something in her peripheral vision. Thinking it was a Harpie, Lou Ellen stopped her chuckles and began to move stealthily past a few cabins.

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her cabin only ten feet away, she noticed a man standing in front of the door to her cabin. She froze.

The man was leaning casually against the door with his hands in his suit pockets, staring off in the direction of Thalia's tree.

A Harpy cried out in the distance as the man turned his gaze to Lou Ellen.

"Hello, daughter of Hecate," the man spoke with a slight British accent. "Just who I was looking for. I've got big plans for you, Lou Ellen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you are… Not the best, but it's something… I'm really struggling right now and I'm so sorry you have to read these crappy updates but it's all I can do right now. If you guys don't like something or think a chapter could've been written a bit better, tell me, please?
> 
> Leo will not be in this, neither will Reyna. I just don't wanna even touch the whole Leo Valdez and Calypso coming back thing because that would be a little too much for this little story, in my opinion. Also, I wouldn't be able to capture Leo's awesomeness, he's just too cool for me. #TeamLeo.
> 
> As for Reyna, I just don't want to. I love her character and all but I have enough characters as is and I really don't see how she'd fit into the story at the moment. That may change later on, but we'll see.
> 
> Anything you guys would just really like to see in this story? Like a subplot or some scene you think would be awesome? Just let me know in the reviews or pm me:)


	9. Night

Just as the three men entered the Poseidon cabin, a screech was heard from a couple cabins down. Percy winced visibly while Dean immediately turned towards the sound - as if he could see anything in the darkness that enveloped the camp.

Castiel briefly glanced up, realized no one was in any danger, and focused his attention back on the cabin he was to stay in.

The younger man from the camp immediately went to a bed that must have been his own while Dean jumped onto a bed next to the camper's. Walking towards Dean, Cas sat at the foot of his bed.

"Uh, Cas, what do you think you're doing?" Dean asked slowly.

Castiel frowned as he tilted his head at the Winchester. "I do not sleep, so, I was going to keep watch."

Dean breathed in deeply like he tended to do when Castiel said something that was deemed socially inappropriate or embarrassing.

"Do you have to keep watch on my bed?"

"Would you prefer I keep watch on," Cas paused to recall the other man's name, "Percy's bed?"

Percy started coughing uncontrollably.

"No," Dean answered quickly. "How about you go keep watch outside? Or on your own bed?"

Castiel thought about it for a second before walking to a bed on the other side of Dean's. He sat on the bed, shifting slightly to get comfortable, then looked to Dean for confirmation that he had done well. The slow nod from his hunter friend told him he had done the right thing, so he proceeded to watch the door intently.

Just as the two mortals were about to fall asleep, the demigod rolled over to glance sleepily at the angel. "So, what exactly are you? I mean, you're an angel but what does an angel do?"

"I am a warrior of God," Castiel explained without looking away from the door. "I don't understand what you mean by your second question."

Dean opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. "He used to do whatever the other angels told him to do, claiming it was the Lord's work. Now, he does whatever he damn well pleases."

The words were not spoken with anger or disdain, instead they were spoken in a way that reminded Castiel of how Dean spoke to Sam when his younger brother did something praise-worthy. It was almost like Dean was proud of Cas for learning to think for himself and for embracing the concept of free will as best he could.

The demigod mumbled something unintelligible before a quiet snore was heard coming from his general direction. Dean closed his eyes but Castiel knew the Winchester was wide awake still. The strange human being had not been sleeping much for the past few weeks for some reason or another.

"If you don't sleep," Cas warned quietly, "you won't be of much help when Crowley shows up."

Dean snorted softly and responded without opening his eyes. "If Crowley shows up then Nico can just kick his ass again."

Upon hearing the name of the son of Hades, Castiel scowled at the door. That child was steeped in darkness and death. The only reason the angel hadn't smited the child right then and there was because Dean seemed to have taken a liking to the boy. Castiel just couldn't bring himself to trust that small human.

Nico di Angelo. His very name was Angel of Death. Why on earth did Dean trust this child? The darkness was just swarming under the surface of the son of Hades's skin, waiting to be released.

Before Castiel could voice his concerns, he suddenly felt the presence of a demon. Not just any demon, either. It was Crowley, the King of Hell.

He took a deep breath before standing, Dean opened one eye to see what Cas was doing.

As Castiel moved quickly to the door, Dean was out of bed and by his side before he knew it. Cas opened the door to the cabin and stepped outside with Dean right behind him. Together the two friends made their way quickly through the camp towards a specific cabin where Castiel was certain the demon king was.

Dean slowed near one cabin that had an owl carved over the door, Cas was sure that this was the cabin Sam was sleeping in. Apparently, Dean had decided not to wake his brother and continued after Cas.

Sensing one of the harpy ladies nearby, Castiel grabbed Dean's arm to slow him down. Both of them could easily kill the harpy but neither of them were too keen on murdering the camp's hired help.

"Sorry," Cas whispered before teleporting both of them to where he could still sense Crowley.

They landed in front of a building made of stones with magical symbols engraved into each of them. Castiel was moving forward while Dean dealt with the sudden change of scenery. Dean had teleported with Cas before but he'd always been prepared for it, this had been rather unexpected so Cas waited for him to adjust.

Dean vaguely recognized the cabin as being Herman's with the head counselor Cindy Lou Who.

The angel of the Lord froze in place about five feet from the door to the cabin with Dean a few feet behind him. Cas stiffly turned his head to look around him but his face said he wasn't quite sure what he was searching for. "Something is wrong," he whispered after a minute of silent searching.

An angel blade slipped silently out of his trench coat pocket as he focused his piercing gaze on the door to the Herman cabin. Dean found himself wishing he still had his gun, but it had been rendered useless by the god of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"Crowley's gone, I think," Castiel whispered, mostly to himself.

Even with this revelation, Dean didn't relax. The way Cas's shoulders tightened told the hunter that just because Crowley wasn't here didn't mean there wasn't danger.

Dean reached subconsciously for his knife before remembering that it was still in his Impala outside the camp borders. He mentally scolded himself for leaving his Baby out of his sight for so long, now he was going into a demon fight unarmed.

"Why are you staring at the Hecate cabin? Are you guys perverts?" said a girl's voice from behind them. Dean didn't even have to turn around to know the girl had a smirk on her face.

When he glanced behind him, he found the dark haired girl did indeed have a smirk firmly planted on her face.

Castiel didn't even glance at the girl, just put his angel blade back inside his sleeve and continued glaring at the door. Dean smiled casually at the girl as he turned to fully face her.

"You're that Cindy Lou Who from this cabin, right?" Dean asked.

The girl's smirk fell off her face and was replaced with a glare. "That's a character from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you nincompoop. The name's Lou Ellen."

Cas turned to look at the girl then with his head tilted. Dean groaned inwardly as his friend opened his mouth to show just how uncultured he really was.

"How can one steal a holiday?"

Lou Ellen pursed her lips as she gave the angel an odd look. She glanced at Dean as if to ask if Castiel was alright to which Dean answered with a frustrated shake of his head. That damn angel was gonna be the death of him.

"Would it kill you to watch a movie or read a book every once in awhile?" Dean asked.

Castiel looked up at the full moon that hung above them in the sky. He seemed to be thinking of a proper response to Dean's question. A few seconds later he answered, "Yes, if I were to read or hear a recitation of…"

Dean threw up his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay. It was a rhetorical question, I didn't actually need an answer."

"Then why would you ask the question? If you did not wish for an answer then you should not have asked a question," Castiel said with concern etched into his face.

That bastard thinks I'm losing my mind, Dean thought with frustration. The idiot doesn't know Dr. Seuss, but I'm the crazy one.

In an attempt to keep himself from punching the angel, Dean focused back on the girl. "What are you doing out? Aren't the harpies supposed to eat bad little children like you?"

"I'm a daughter of Hecate, I've got more magic than either of you could possibly imagine. If I don't want the harpies to smell or see me, then they won't," was the girl's cocky response.

This girl had balls, Dean could respect that. But still there was something off about the way she was acting.

She kept glancing between them and the woods. When Dean followed her gaze and then locked eyes with her, she gave him another confident smirk. Whatever she was hiding was in those woods, but Dean knew better than to go running off into monster infested woods without any weapon to speak of.

Even with Ares's blessing or whatever, he doubted he'd live if he just went running blindly into that forest.

"Come on, Cas," Dean said as he walked back towards the Poseidon cabin.

Cas stared at the girl for a brief second before following Dean.

When they were out of hearing range, Cas leaned towards the hunter to whisper, "She was hiding something, Dean."

"No shit," was Dean's grumpy response. "Whatever it is, is hiding in the forest. However, I'm weaponless and you're a bit of a flight risk. Sam and I will go get the Impala tomorrow, suit up, and then we can go check out those woods. Maybe we can gank some monsters while we're at it."

They walked in comfortable silence back to the Poseidon cabin where Percy was still sound asleep. The two went back to their individual beds. Dean was worrying about his Baby being vandalized while Castiel worried about where Crowley disappeared to.

Lou Ellen was hiding something, they both knew it, but they just couldn't figure out what. Maybe she was hiding Crowley with her magic? Something told Castiel that if she wanted to make the King of Hell invisible then no one, not even an angel, would ever be able to find him. Or maybe she was being possessed by a demon and doing Crowley's bidding? And what could possibly be in those woods besides the Greek monsters that Chiron put in there to help train the demigods?

Then there was that Nico di Angelo, who he could sense wandering quietly around camp. He'd been moving about ever since Castiel had felt Crowley's presence. What on earth was the kid doing up this late? Was he in on this as well? Castiel wouldn't put it past the child of darkness. There was no way any child, demigod or not, could possibly live with that much darkness inside them. Di Angelo was dangerous and the boy knew it, too.

Dean lay on his back on top of the covers of the bed he had laid claim to. His eyes were closed but his irregular breaths revealed that he was very much awake.

With a slight frown, Castiel reached over and grabbed the older Winchester's leg. With the touch, Dean's eyes flew open and he began to sit up only to slump back down with his eyes closed. As Castiel released his grip, the Winchester rolled over so his back was to the angel and a contented sigh escaped the hunter's lips.

Why didn't I do that sooner? Castiel asked himself. His mortal friend had been running himself ragged for a week with little to no sleep and Castiel had only just now remembered that he could force the man to rest.

A minute later, Castiel was pacing in worry. Dean was going to kill him for using his angelic abilities on him without his permission. Another, more hopeful, part of his brain suggested that Dean would be so well rested he wouldn't mind being forced to sleep.

While he fretted, he kept a constant eye on the cabin door.

Part of him wanted to go to the Athena cabin or the Big House to hide from Dean, but another part wanted to stay to make sure nothing attacked in the middle of the night. Sam had a cabin full of intelligent demigods to help him if they should be attacked. Dean only had the one, reckless demigod to assist him if something were to attack their cabin.

Finally, Castiel decided that when the sun rose and more campers were wandering about, he would go to the Big House before Dean woke up. He knew he could not hope to hide from Dean forever, but he could possibly hide out long enough for the hunter's anger to wear out.

With that, he sat down on the bed beside Dean's and continued to keep watch.


	10. Sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get so excited when I find more reviews for this story:D It always make my day
> 
> Warning: if gay people make you uncomfortable, stop reading. This chapter contains boyxboy love (nothing sexual, purely romantic) and a lot of chapters after this will mention Solangelo because they're my OTP. You've been warned ~(O.O~)
> 
> Enjoy!:D

When Nico di Angelo showed up to the Big House's infirmary looking like a zombie on crack, Will thought the son of Hades had been kept awake due to recurring nightmares again. His concern was quickly replaced with anger when Nico revealed that he had purposely decided to wander camp all night rather than sleep like a normal human being.

"You did what?" he asked with a strained smile that looked more like a grimace.

They were standing in the center of one of the rooms reserved for the more severely injured campers. Will had been making his rounds to check on patients, when Nico had literally stumbled in wearing an oversized orange Camp Half-Blood shirt with his usual black skinny jeans. The doctor's attention had immediately been drawn to the attractive Italian, only to notice the deep bags under two glazed obsidian eyes.

"I didn't wanna sleep," Nico shrugged. "Walking around camp sounded more relaxing, at the time."

Will ran a hand through his hair to keep himself from tying the gloomy camper to a hospital bed for three days of mandatory bedrest, again. Maybe he could even get Lou Ellen to put a sleeping spell on Nico that would lift only after the boy made up all those hours of lost sleep. Then again, that would probably mean that Nico wouldn't wake up for another three years and Will didn't think he could go that long without hearing his Death Breath's sassy retorts.

Finally deciding that a sleep spell wouldn't do, Will sighed in exasperation. "What am I going to do with you, Death Boy? Blatantly ignoring my orders for rest… Was it because I ordered you as a friend? Should I order you as a doctor?"

The light blush spreading across the smaller boy's cheeks told Will all he needed to know.

"Alrighty then. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, you are to sleep every night and get plenty of rest, until further notice. Doctor's orders."

Nico seemed to be fighting a smile as his blush deepened and he refused to make eye contact. "Shut it, Solace."

He's so cute when he's flustered, Will thought cheerfully.

Just before he could give voice to how cute Nico was, Will's least favorite demigod came strolling through the infirmary like he owned the place.

The black haired son of Poseidon glanced around for a moment before spotting them. As he walked closer, Will hastily threw an arm over Nico's shoulders and forced his smile to be amiable and friendly.

He knew that Nico wasn't interested in Percy and that Percy was practically married to Annabeth, but he was still a little insecure when it came to Nico. Percy was a hero who had saved the world more times than Will could remember, whereas he was just a simple healer who had never done anything praise-worthy in his life. Even Nico was a legendary hero with amazing sword fighting skills and Hades only knows how many other superpowers.

His smile became more genuine as he remembered what Nico had said to him when he'd caught up to him in the infirmary during dinner the night before.

"Solace, you've saved more lives than anyone I know. Gods, you've saved me in more ways than one. As far as I'm concerned, you're more of a hero than Percy. That might not mean much coming from a son of Hades, but it should still count for something, right?"

Nico thought he was a hero, that's all that mattered he reminded himself as Percy came to stand before them.

"'Sup, Solace? Mind if I borrow Nico for a minute?" Percy asked with a dorky smile.

"Oh, gods," Nico muttered. "If you and Jason try to pull another prank on me, I will kill you both without hesitation."

Percy took a large step away from Nico in order to be out of reach.

"No, it's not a prank," Percy assured him. "We wanted to see if you wanted to train the two new guys. Dean's not bad, but he's mostly depending on Ares when it comes to fighting with a sword. And the hippie needs a lot of help. You in?"

Will subconsciously tightened his grip on Nico's shoulder. He was being selfish in wanting to keep Nico all to himself but Nico was the only person he truly felt comfortable around.

When Nico glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, Will smiled back. "You should go, I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun. I'll be fine without my assistant for a day," he lied to the stoic son of Hades.

Said son of Hades did not look like he believed a word that had come out of Will's mouth.

"I'm gonna help Solace in the infirmary for awhile," Nico said much to Will's surprise. "When we get done, I might come by the arena and help train the new guys."

Percy glanced between the two and then smiled knowingly. "Alright, you two lovebirds behave, understood?"

As the son of Poseidon walked out of the infirmary, Will briefly caught a glimpse of Nico's brilliant scarlet face before he hid it behind his hands. He would have joked about it or called it cute, if it hadn't been for the fact that Will was fairly certain his own face was the same shade of red.

Once Will was sure that his face was back to its usual tan color, he removed his arm from Nico's shoulders.

"I just have a few more patients to check on, then I need to redress a few bandages," Will explained casually. "After that, I will be personally looking after my favorite patient. That would be you, Angel. Because I say that you need more sun in your life and the best way to get that is to wander around camp during the day."

"Did you just call me 'Angel'?" Nico asked with a confused look on his face.

Will's only response was a wink.

Nico rolled his eyes before following Will on his rounds. A few campers gave the Ghost King wary glances and some flat out refused to even be within ten feet of the son of Hades. Whenever the campers didn't want to be near Nico, he would begin retreating to make the camper more comfortable but Will always managed to grab him before he could run far.

Will's excuse was always something along the lines of desperately needing Nico's assistance even on the simplest of injuries.

Some campers demanded another doctor to care for their wounds and Will was always happy to oblige. If they were going to judge Nico for his parentage instead of his personality, then Will really didn't want to bother with them anyways.

Once Will had finished, he left Nico for a second to change out of his scrubs. When he returned he found Nico still standing awkwardly outside the door. Even after almost a week of working at the infirmary, Nico had yet to become comfortable around so many people, although that was to be expected from years of being alone.

Will grabbed Nico's hand and led him out of the infirmary.

"Come on, Zombie Boy," Will ordered. "You need sunshine, Doctor's orders."

Nico dragged his feet the entire way out of the infirmary. "Solace, 'Doctor's orders' isn't a magical phrase that's gonna make me do whatever you tell me to."

Will gave one last tug on Nico's arm and the grumpy camper was standing in the warm sunlight. "Well, you could've easily broken free of my grip but you didn't. So, if it ain't broke, I ain't gonna fix it."

Reluctantly releasing Death Boy's hand, Will began to walk towards the beach. After about twenty feet, Nico finally stop sulking and appeared to be cheering up. Will was fairly certain that he saw Gloom And Doom crack a smile out of the corner of his eye; but he couldn't be completely sure, as the smile disappeared the moment he turned to look at him.

In the midst of telling Nico about how he and his half-siblings had once cursed Clarisse to only speak in couplets for a week after she started a fight in the infirmary, Nico quit walking. Will stopped mid-sentence to eye his friend anxiously.

The smaller camper's face was tilted downwards, so that his black hair created a thick curtain to hide behind. His arms hung limp by his side and Will was terrified Nico was about to have some sort of mental breakdown or the darkness was going to overtake him any second.

"Nico?" he asked tentatively.

"What am I to you, Solace?" Nico inquired.

Will let out a relieved sigh. His favorite assistant was just being insecure, he wasn't going to die or break. "Gods... You had me worried there for a second, Death Boy," Will laughed breathlessly.

Nico didn't look up as he repeated his question, "What am I to you, Solace? I mean, are we friends or am I just a charity case? Do you actually even care or do you just feel sorry for me? Am I just a patient you feel the need to fix or … or what?"

He finally met Will's eyes and Will could feel his heart break a little at how lost the son of Hades looked.

"Oh, Nico," Will muttered as he stepped forward to hug the shorter camper.

Nico flinched like he did whenever anyone tried to make physical contact with him, anyone but Will. He'd never flinched from Will before and the sudden distrust caused Will to freeze for a second.

Will's raised arms fell to his sides as he stared at the son of Hades. His hurt was quickly morphing into anger.

"You really think I'd go through this much trouble to get someone out in the sunshine if they were just a patient?" Will responded with quiet anger. "You think I'd stay up at night trying to come up with new nicknames for a charity case? Do you honestly think I'd tell just anyone about my depression, fears, or self doubts? And I suppose you think I'd ditch my post at the infirmary to take someone I feel sorry for on a walk along the beach? If you really believe that then you're a bigger idiot than Percy and Jason combined. I mean, for the love of Apollo, do you really think that little of me?"

Those lost obsidian eyes widened in surprise. For a brief second, the light hit those eyes just enough to show a deep brown color that reminded Will of dark chocolate.

"You mean… you really like me? I'm not just imagining this and... you're not going to get tired of me in a week?" Nico stammered.

Will raised an eyebrow. "Well, you see… I have a very specific type, which includes: attractive, sassy, and grumpy Italian boys with bad attitudes who are in desperate need of sunshine and haircuts. You see anyone else at camp that fits those requirements? Me neither."

The grumpy Italian in question blushed a deep shade of red that would put a tomato to shame and that only added to his cuteness, in Will's opinion. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish for a couple seconds, unable to find anything to say.

"Now, here's what we're gonna do about this," Will informed him. "I'm gonna ask you out, to which you'll answer yes. And then, you're gonna go on a romantic walk along the beach with me, getting as much sun as you can. Seriously, Death Boy, would it have killed you to get a little sun while you were off saving the world from primordial goddesses?"

The speechless boy in front of him gave him a glare for the last comment which was matched by Will's serious doctor face. "I'm serious. You're unhealthily pale, you need sleep, and, I swear to the gods, if I see you skip another meal I'm going to shove the food down your throat myself."

Nico scoffed as he looked away with a confident smile, like he thought Will couldn't or wouldn't do it.

"I swear on the River…" Will started to promise.

"Okay!" Nico interrupted, a look of pure terror etched onto his face. "Okay. I promise not to skip anymore meals. Just don't swear on the Styx, please?"

"Fine," Will relented. "Now then, Nico di Angelo, would you like to be my boyfriend?"

His confident seriousness dissolved into a self-conscious anxiety as he awaited Nico's response.

The look on Will's face seriously reminded Nico of a kicked puppy.

"Yeah, Idiot," answered Nico, his sassiness replacing his insecurities from earlier.

Will's face lit up so brightly that it rivaled the sun's for a moment and it took Nico a second to blink away the spots that suddenly hindered his vision.

"Tone down the brightness, Sunshine," Nico said as his eyes adjusted.

In response, Will grabbed his hand and they continued towards the beach while Will began his story about cursing Clarisse again. About halfway to the beach, however, Nico felt a vague demonic presence coming from the woods. It was the same presence he had felt the night before, but when he'd gone out to investigate it had suddenly disappeared. Or maybe that angel with the digestive problems was messing with his abilities.

He stopped walking again, this time Will looked at him with confusion rather than concern.

"What's wrong, Death Breath?"

Nico knew that if he just ran off to search for a demonic presence Will would think he was ditching him, he was so easily hurt. Instead, Nico decided to see how Will would react to a spur-of-the-moment change of plans.

"Why don't we take a walk in the woods, instead?" Nico suggested, attempting to sound casual and not at all suspicious. If the look Will gave him was anything to go by, he'd failed.

"Are you trying to get out of the sun?"

"No?"

"Right… Then why the sudden desire to run into the forest?"

"I, um… There is a, uh… There's a demon in the woods?"

Will blinked. "You want to take me to fight a demon on our first date?"

Nico cursed himself for blushing at the word 'date'. "Uh, yes?"

He was rewarded with a brilliant smile from the son of Apollo for his answer. "Sounds awesome. Let's go!"

As Will began to practically skip towards the woods, Nico stared after him in bewilderment. I'm dating a dork, he thought before racing after the blonde.

"You know you're completely unarmed right?" Nico stated as the two stood at the edge of the woods. He had retrieved his sword from the Hades cabin and had briefly thought about getting Will a weapon. After a brief flashback to the bow and arrow incident, he'd decided against it.

"That's alright," Will reassured him. He didn't seem even the slightest bit worried about going into monster-infested woods. "I've got you to protect me."

The faith the blonde had in Nico took him by surprise, no one had ever been so trusting of him before. Most people would've trusted him to stab them in the back or kill their puppy, never to keep them safe. Nico swore to himself that he would never let anyone or anything harm Will.

With that, Nico stepped into the woods with Will only a couple steps behind him.

Nico honestly had no idea where the demon was in the woods, just that the demonic creature was in the general area. He could have easily shadow traveled to the place where the presence was strongest, it would've been faster, but Will would've murdered him before the darkness inside him could.

So, without his shadow travel, the couple slowly made their way through the forest. By the time they reached the creek that divided the forest into two, it was well past noon and Will was still excited about 'ghost hunting' with Nico. The son of Hades wasn't as thrilled, but seeing the son of Apollo literally bouncing through the creek did cause him to crack a smile.

Once across, Will asked in a silly voice, "Who you gonna call?"

Nico's baffled expression led to Will giving him a similar look.

"Ghostbusters? Famous movie from the… OH!" His face lit up with understanding. "Forgot you skipped over half of the 1900s. I'm dating an uncultured swine. As your personal doctor, I cannot allow this. I prescribe a movie night. I'm catching you up on every important thing you missed out on while locked away from society."

"I wasn't locked away…" Nico started to defend himself before Will unceremoniously hugged him close to his chest.

He started shushing and cooing at Nico like he was a child in need of soothing. "Shshsh… It's alright my little Angel, I'll make it all better."

"Solace, I'm gonna shove this sword down your throat if you don't let me go, now."

The son of Apollo didn't take the threat too seriously since Nico had started laughing halfway through making it. He did, however, take the drooling hellhound very seriously.

Neither of them was sure where it had come from or when it had entered the clearing on their side of the creek, they just knew that it looked angry. The hellhound was huge (not quite Mrs. O'Leary huge, but huge nonetheless) with glowing red eyes and a body that shifted like smoke.

It wasn't like any hellhound Nico had ever seen before, but the demon standing behind it he had definitely seen before.

"Crowley."

The demon stepped into the clearing to pat the hellhound on the head. "Ah, hello again, Nicky."

Nico scowled at the self-proclaimed ruler of Hell while Will positioned himself a few feet behind the grumpy camper.

"Don't call me that."

"How's Hades? How was Tartarus?" He was met with silence. Crowley continued on goodnaturedly, "Well, this has been fun, nice catching up to you, ya' little brat. But I have more important things to deal with right now, so be a dear and keep my little hellhound company while I'm gone."

Before Nico or Will could move or say anything, the King of Hell disappeared into the woods, leaving his rather hungry looking hellhound behind.

Nico raised his sword to defend himself and protect Will, while said blonde scooped up a couple rocks. The hellhound snarled at them before dissolving into nothing. The two campers stared in shock at the now empty clearing for a few seconds but just as they let their guards down, something sharp latched onto Nico's leg and pulled.

Searing pain flared up inside him as the invisible thing thrashed his leg around like a chew toy. He vaguely remembered screaming before what felt like claws ripped into his chest.

He thought he heard Will calling his name but the pain was so intense it was drowning out everything else.

A blinding light flooded the son of Hades's vision and the daggers in his leg and chest disappeared. Just before he blacked out, he caught a glimpse of Will's concerned face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, a Solangelo chapter with plot! Oh, how I love these two… hope this was a good chapter for y'all and sorry I injured our poor little Nico, but it's all for the good of the story!
> 
> In the next chapter, Crowley's little plan will be revealed. Also to be revealed in the next chapter: a new villain!:D This bad guy will be sort of familiar but completely new, as well... I really hope that made no sense to any of you whatsoever. It's gonna be a big surprise and I did a whole lot of research for this just for you guys:D
> 
> The next chapter should be as long as, if not longer than, this chapter so it should take me about as long as it took me to write this one.
> 
> Anywho, tell me what you think of this chapter and if it was any good or complete crap or in need of a good edit:) I'll get to work on the next chapter tomorrow morning before work:D


	11. Apollo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took a little longer than I said it would… Work has been hectic and my life is not in order:p School starts in a little over a week and that means I'll either have more time for this story or no time for anything… Most likely the first option since no more work!:D
> 
> Also, glad y'all liked the Solangelo chapter! This chapter doesn't explain as much as I wanted to but that's probably because it's midnight here and working a double shift for three days in a row is hard... Anywho enjoy:D

A child's scream echoed through the trees as Crowley strolled towards the pile of rocks where he was supposed to meet that ginger with the art fetish and sharpie addiction. The rock pile was the perfect place to enact his plan.

Lou Ellen, one of the strongest children of Hecate, was nervously pacing at the foot of the pile of rocks. The sharpie addict was sitting on the ground, drawing on her jeans again.

For the millionth time, Crowley wondered if he could replace the two girls with people who might be better qualified. However, the Oracle was the closest person to the god he wanted to keep tied down and the demigod was the most powerful witch he could find.

With the son of Hades's screams still ringing in his ears, Crowley stepped into the clearing.

"Hello, ladies," he called out.

Lou Ellen briefly glanced up from her pacing but the look she gave him showed that she deemed her worrying more important. The redhead didn't even glance up to return his greeting. She was still drawing on her pants much to Crowley's annoyance.

"Have you done anything since I left?"

"Did you hurt Nico?" the redhead asked in a tone that revealed she already knew the answer. She used that tone a lot and it really aggravated Crowley.

Instead of answering, Crowley stepped forward to stare up at where the entrance to the labyrinth was hidden. The rock form was apparently called Zeus's Fist but Crowley couldn't help but keep calling it the Shit Pile.

This was where the Greek god was going raise up out of his current prison with Hell's demons and souls as his minions. That damn angel of the abyss had shown up in Hell as nothing but a spoiled brat of a sun god, yet, within days the god had become the equivalent of a Knight of Hell. There was a reason religions didn't mix, it disrupted the balance of everything and usually ended up with Crowley losing power. The only things he hated more than losing power were Moose and Not Moose.

Speaking of which, those two idiots were in the forest now along with their pet angel. He was going to need that angel to complete his plan to keep that angel of the abyss from freeing himself and gaining more followers. But the only way to get to the flying giraffe to assist him was to get the Hardy Boys on his side which shouldn't be too difficult. The two bumbling idiots were stubborn and a pain in the ass but they were extremely predictable.

They had five days to succeed in this plan, otherwise Apollyon was going to rise from Hell and destroy everything Crowley had worked hard to obtain.

If only that god with the over glorified taser hadn't sent his godforsaken son into Hell then Crowley would never have had to ask the Winchesters for help again. Hopefully his baby hellhound didn't injure that Underworld prince too much, knowing his luck Dean had taken a liking to the little brat. Injuring someone the Winchesters liked would only make Crowley's job more arduous and stressful.

His eyes shifted from the Labyrinth entrance to the pacing daughter of Hecate.

She'd been nervous ever since he'd first approached her. Of course, he probably shouldn't have approached her in the middle of the night and practically kidnapped her; but it was so much simpler than trying to gain her trust. The girl wasn't even worried about him being the King of Hell or a demon - what was it with these demigods and their lack of fear in demons - she was more concerned about whether or not she was strong enough.

Meanwhile, Ms. Frizzle had found him before he could even attempt to find her. The way her eyes glowed with understanding and superior knowledge really annoyed the hell out of Crowley.

The girl had been fucking waiting for him when he showed up to the bloody camp.

He knew he needed her but the moment all this was over he was going to make sure to torture the crap out of that know-it-all.

At that moment, he caught a smirk on RED's face that said she knew what he was planning and he groaned. He was in way over his head. What was it with these demigods? Hunters were ignorant mortals trying to fight the stuff of nightmares. Demigods were a whole other creature. They fought monsters that would make even the legendary Winchesters wet their pants; that child of Hades had beaten Crowley to a pulp without even breaking a sweat.

Crowley smirked as he recalled how confused that brat had been when his hellhound had become invisible. Maybe not all the Greek's monsters were better, his hellhounds were certainly a force to be reckoned with.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" the witch asked for possibly the hundredth time.

RED smiled reassuringly at the dark haired girl. "Yes, Lou, I promise this will work. You trust me right?"

Lou Ellen nodded but Crowley stared at her with blatant distrust.

Of course he had come up with the same plan as Picasso over there, but he didn't trust that artsy hippie. She was too close to Apollo and, even as Apollyon, the god could easily control the Oracle.

"We need the hunters and their disgruntled angel for this, as well," Crowley pointed out before leaning back against a tree.

"Why the hunters? Shouldn't we just need the angel?" RED asked, looking genuinely confused for the first time.

Crowley smirked as he felt the power over the situation shift over to him. "Normally, yes. However, Castiel doesn't do anything unless the Winchesters deem it okay. And by Winchesters, I mostly mean Dean. The angel's become rather attached to that human in particular."

"Are they dating?" Lou Ellen questioned with a thoughtful expression.

"No, though they might as well be."

"They'd be cute together, I'd ship it. Not as cute as Will and Nico would be, they're so precious together," Lou Ellen added before resuming her pacing.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare capped her sharpie as she tapped it thoughtfully on her chin. "I thought Will and Nico were dating? They're always together, Will's rather protective of him, and Nico beat up that son of Ares for picking on Will. Maybe not, we should definitely get them together after Mission: Recover the Sun is over."

Crowley's eyebrow twitched as the two girls continued their conversation.

"Focus, will you?" He was seriously considering turning the two into meatsuits for his demons when he sensed an angelic presence. "They're here."

He pushed off the tree he'd been leaning on and turned to face the line of trees where he'd entered earlier. About ten seconds later, Moose and company came piling out of the forest looking as confused and pissed as always.

"Hello, boys. Miss me?" Crowley smiled as he opened his arms to welcome them to the Shit Pile (aka: Zeus's Fist).

Sam held Ruby's knife while Dean aimed a gun at Crowley. Castiel stood awkwardly to the side with an angel blade hidden up his sleeve. The angel looked extremely lost as he gazed around the clearing.

"This is an… odd place to perform ungodly acts of evil," Cas muttered.

Dean was about ready to grab Ruby's knife and gank the sonovabitch that had nearly killed a kid with a hellhound. The only thing that stopped him was the shock of finding the shady daughter of Hecate and the Oracle in the same place as that British Asshat.

He leaned towards Cas to whisper, "Are those two possessed or…?"

"No, they are just demigods," came the indifferent response.

The two hunters shared a look before turning their attention back on Crowley, the eerily calm Oracle, and the daughter of Hecate who looked like she didn't know whether she wanted to turn them all into guinea pigs or run.

"What the fucking hell is going on here?" Dean exclaimed.

The last day and a half had been confusing as hell and now Crowley was standing around with a supposedly good witch and a female Bob Ross with fortune-telling abilities. If he didn't get answers soon he was going to gank every possible monster he could whether Percy claimed they were good or not.

Crowley kept giving them the look he gave them when he was about to manipulate them into doing his bidding.

"Can't I just stop by and see my least favorite hunters, Dean-o?"

Dean cocked his gun.

The King of Hell rolled his eyes as he looked at Sam like Dean was his misbehaving child. "Really, Moose? You should train him better, teach him some manners or common courtesy."

Sam just gave him an exasperated look.

"Oi, Squirrel, you're rubbing off on him," Crowley grumbled. "Alright, here's the plan: you're going to give me the angel to seal away a potential threat to my business and then you three can be on your merry way saving the world or whatever it is you think you're doing."

The Oracle chuckled before standing up without even bothering to try and dust off her pants. "Winchesters, the reason Ares and Athena called on you is because you're supposed to help us fight against the demons that are going to rise out of the opening over by those rocks. They'll be led by the god Apollo, who's not quite himself at the moment. We need Castiel to assist us fight the god. Will you help?"

A moment of silence passed as the two Winchesters stared at the redhead with skepticism.

The angel, however, was staring thoughtfully at her.

He knew she was telling the truth and that if they didn't help her the human race would be in serious danger. If he tried, he could even feel the presence of this pagan god.

"What can we do?" he asked before either of the Winchesters could say no.

Dean gave him a bewildered look. "Cas, have you lost your mind? We can't help Crowley! We should be ganking the sonovabitch not helping him in his little power struggle."

"You know, 'ganking' isn't a real word," Lou Ellen joined in.

The glare Dean gave her caused her to glare right back. A glowing green orb appeared in her hand as she challenged the older Dean with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"You just try, Hun," she challenged.

The girl that had been nervously clutching her stomach in fear was now boldly standing up to the Winchester and he was a bit intimidated by the teenager. In response, Dean lowered his gun and repeated Cas's question.

"What can we do?"

Crowley glanced at the young witch with respect before focusing back on the Winchesters with a sneer on his face. "Well, if I have your promise to help then all we need to do is wait. Apollyon is building up an army and strength and he won't be going anywhere for another five days or so."

"If he's weak now, why don't we fight him now?" Sam asked.

"Oh, Moose," Crowley replied in disappointment. "And here I thought you were the smart one. We can't just go running into the Abyss and fight the angel that now reigns over it. That's where he's strongest, he's just building up strength to fight in the mortal world, away from the source of his power."

The Oracle tilted her head towards the sky where a hazy sun was floating across the sky.

Sam tilted his head towards her. "You're alright with us killing your patron god?"

"He's technically not my patron god, anymore. He's a hybrid of an angel and a god. We might be able to save him, turn him back into Apollo, so I'm clinging to that hope," came her cool response.

"Oh gods," Lou Ellen murmured. "That's going to destroy Will... "

"Speaking of which, we're going to need Nico di Angelo for this, most likely." The Oracle was staring through the Winchesters. "He's got more power over the darkness than any of us here."

Dean aimed his gun at Crowley again. "Oh, yeah. You bastard, you left that hellhound to kill that kid."

Crowley waved off the angry Winchester. "It was just payback, and I needed to get your attention somehow. Be glad I let you kill my hellhound, I could have just transported him elsewhere and had my pet rip him to shreds."

Cas placed a hand on Dean's shoulder in an attempt to calm him. Dean jerked away from the angel's touch before muttering a few curses.

"Fine, we'll help," Dean said grudgingly. "But, just so we're clear, after we're done with this god/angel/thing, we're going to gank you, you sonovabitch."

"Of course, whatever you say, Dean-o," Crowley responded mockingly.

Sam grabbed Dean's gun before he could pull the trigger; it wouldn't have caused any damage to the King of Hell but Sam didn't want the Oracle or demigod getting stuck in the crossfire.

"What's the plan?" Sam asked the Oracle whom he thought was in charge.

She winked at him which caused him to shift uncomfortably.

"'The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss,' Revelation 9:1," she recited. "Not exactly a prophecy, but the closest I could get given the whole absence of Apollo. Anyways, the verse goes on to say that Apollyon's army of demons and demonic locusts will strike down any man not bearing the symbol of God on their forehead. If the person doesn't have the mark, then their going to be severely tortured by the army of the Abyss."

Dean shrugged. "So, what? We get everyone to wear the sign of the cross on their heads?"

The Oracle gave him an unamused look. "Right, like it's going to be that easy. You see, we also need to get Apollo back before the whole pantheon of Greek gods find out and go crazy. They have a tendency to overreact about things like this and they're completely useless when they freak out. Anyways, Apollyon is actually the least of our worries…"

The two hunters sighed in defeat. They'd been expecting that. Nothing was ever simple in their lives.

"Revelations 9:12, 'The first woe is past, two other woes are left to come'," she explained.

Castiel frowned at the ground as he recalled the verses. There would be the locusts of the Abyss and terrible destruction. How could he have missed this? An Olympian god entering Hell should have been a rather obvious shift in the balance of things. Then again, the whole battle with Lucifer had left things out of balance anyways, maybe he had felt the disruption but had shrugged it off as a side effect of Lucifer.

"What's the second 'woe'?" Sam asked nervously.

"Oh, four angels will be released. They and their armies of two hundred million will kill a third of mankind," the Oracle responded. "No biggie."

Dean squeezed the bridge of his nose. "And the third?"

The Oracle tapped her sharpie nervously on her leg. "Well, um…"

Crowley and Castiel answered for her, "The seven 'bowls' of God's wrath."

Castiel continued in hushed awe, "There has never been a greater horror than that."

"But, there is no God?" Dean reminded them. "Remember? He's on permanent vacation, thus he can't be serving up any Bowls of Wrath. Right?"

The demon king and angel just stared at him and the Winchester got the sinking feeling that Lucifer had been the least of his worries. A glance at Sam told him that his younger brother was thinking the same thing.

"There's also the little tidbit about the antichrist possibly rising up," the Oracle added cheerfully. "Who's ready to meet the antichrist?"

Everyone stared at her with grim expressions while she smiled in amusement at each of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so in the Bible, Apollyon is the Greek equivalent of Abaddon and in one translation it's Apollo rather than Apollyon. There is a lot of debate over whether or not Apollyon was actually supposed to be Apollo or not… Some even say he's the antichrist (I think that's a bit too much of a stretch but if you believe that then alright, cool; I'm sure you have your reasons. In this story, the Antichrist is his own little being unknown to any of the current characters). Apollyon was said to send his army to cause destruction and chaos since his name translates to "destroyer" that makes sense.
> 
> Anyways, I figured Zeus's punishment for Apollo was to send him away from his domain (the sky, sun chariot, etc.) and the farthest place from that is the Underworld. So, knowing Crowley's luck, he would end up in Crowley's portion of the Underworld and the darkness would seriously affect his stability (much like the Roman/Greek split affected the gods) so that he became the angel of the abyss from the Scripture.
> 
> Basically, Zeus fucks everything up and Crowley's pissed.
> 
> Hope this all made sense, more will be explained later and don't be surprised if the information in this A/N ends up in the next chapter or two. Also, I'll be explaining what all Revelations says about Apollyon, the antichrist, and all the events that lead up to God's wrath, so do not fret if you don't know your Bible very well:) 'Till next time!


	12. Distrust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took me so long to update! I've been working as a hostess/busser/whatever non-stop for the past few days… But I'm off work until winter!:D However, with school starting, expect updates to be once a week rather than twice a week like they were:)

The day was going so well and the sky was so clear that Annabeth had decided to study up on her Greek mythology outside by Camp Half-Blood Forest. She had been sitting in the shade of a tree on the outskirts of the woods with her nose stuck firmly in her text when the three new guys showed up.

Dean was holding a sawed off shotgun while his brother wielded a dagger and the unarmed angel was standing calmly behind the two brothers. Upon noticing her, the older brother glanced down at his gun before giving Annabeth a cocky grin. Sam gave his brother a bitch face that made Annabeth proud.

She could easily see why her mother had given the taller Winchester her blessing. The man had the brains of a child of Athena and he enjoyed research almost as much as she did.

The older Winchester, was more like Percy, reckless and childish most of the time. His brother said he was smarter than he let on, but all she'd seen of the shorter Winchester showed that he was a cocky idiot. Then again, that's all she saw in Percy when she first met him and he turned out to be a rather intelligent man, if not a little reckless at times.

Just as she opened her mouth to question what the three morons were doing, a boy's scream ripped through the woods. All four of them froze for a second, the sudden blood-curdling cry shocking them.

Then Dean fixed her with a glare and ordered her to go back to the camp.

In response, Annabeth quirked a defiant eyebrow and sprinted into the forest while pulling her small dagger out of its holster.

She heard the eldest Winchester curse behind her before the three men followed after her.

It didn't take them long to reach the creek that normally stood for the boundary line during the Capture-the-Flag game the camp played every Friday evening. The usually peaceful tranquility of the clearing was shattered by Nico's screams as something invisible clawed at him.

Without thinking, Annabeth rushed forward in an attempt to help the youngest of the Seven. She didn't get far, however, as Sam pulled her back by the arm.

Before she could even think of anything to scream at the hunter, the taller man was shielding her with his back to Nico. The angel stepped forward with a strange silver blade in his hands.

"Cas…" Dean called out in warning.

Annabeth vaguely registered Will's shouting as Dean struggled to restrain him. Then there was an inhuman screech before silence descended upon the clearing. Time seemed to freeze and the silence crashed down on them.

Even when Sam moved away from her to go to Castiel, Annabeth still couldn't process what had happened and remained frozen to the spot as everyone else seemed to be moving in slow-motion. Dean and Sam were trying to lift an invisible thing covered in blood off of Nico while Will was trying to stop the blood that poured out of the son of Hades. Castiel was crouching down beside the boy, his lips were moving but Annabeth's ears couldn't seem to make out any of the words. There was only silence.

Then her brain rebooted and she saw the chaotic scene before her come into focus with a cacophony of sounds accompanying it.

The angel of the Lord was reaching out to Nico with two fingers, even though Will was yelling at him to leave him alone. The two Winchesters had managed to remove the bloody lump that had been attacking Nico a moment before. Sam removed the distressed son of Apollo as Dean returned to Annabeth with a look that somehow appeared both sheepish and cocky.

"What the Hades is going on?" Annabeth started before a quick flash of light caught her eye.

Before her very eyes the scratches and bite marks that had covered Nico's body were closing up. The boy's blood stopped flowing out of his body and within a few moments he sat up, looking just as confused as she felt.

Castiel shared a meaningful look with the two Winchesters before he straightened up from his crouching position.

"Thought you people knew how to fight hellhounds," Dean grumbled.

Will broke free of Sam's hold and raced to check on Nico. He shot Dean a glare before responding, "That thing was no hellhound."

"Hellhounds cannot turn invisible," Annabeth agreed.

The two brothers shared a baffled look and Sam opened his mouth to speak only to have the angel cut him off. "Dean, he is still here."

"Goddammit," Dean mumbled before grabbing his brother's arm to follow Castiel into the forest.

Nico grumbled something before his eyes closed much to Will's horror.

Before Will could go into full panic mode, Annabeth took charge. "William Solace, calm down. Get Nico to the infirmary, now. You can check on him there, okay?" The son of Apollo nodded stiffly as he scooped up Nico's limp body. "I'm going to go after those three to find out what the Hades is going on. If anyone asks about what happened, tell them that Nico worked himself to exhaustion or whatever clinical diagnosis you can think of that will keep people from asking too many questions. Understood?"

She waited for the stiff nod of understanding from the blonde camper before racing off in the direction that the Winchesters and their angel had disappeared.

About thirty minutes later, Annabeth heard voices, lots of them.

Inching closer towards the sounds, she found herself with more questions than answers.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Lou Ellen were seated on the rocks near Zeus's Fist while a man who could have been Mr. D's evil twin spoke to Castiel. The Winchesters were off to the side arguing while Dean waved his shotgun occasionally in frustration.

Sensing that something serious was occurring, Annabeth crept as close as she dared to the edge of the trees before crouching behind a bush. From her hiding place, she could just make out what the angel and Mr. D's twin were saying.

"Come on, Cassie," the apparently British Mr. D was saying, "you know the only way to save the bloody Winchesters and humanity is to help me. You wouldn't want to lose them again would you? I highly doubt you could raise Squirrel from Hell again."

Castiel was gazing at Zeus's Fist with a defeated expression.

"I will assist you in stopping Apollyon from raising his army," Castiel whispered. "After this, however, I refuse to aid you in your schemes ever again, Crowley."

So, the King of Hell was a car salesman who looked like Mr. D? Annabeth could not, for the life of her, see what was so terrifying about the overly confident man or why the Winchesters were so shocked that Nico di Angelo could kick his butt.

Crowley gave Castiel a grin that showed that he knew more than he was letting on. "If that's what you want to believe, Cassandra."

Without waiting for a response, the demon king disappeared leaving behind a sulfuric smell.

The Winchesters were still arguing about something that Annabeth couldn't hear and her two fellow campers were casually doodling on Rachel Elizabeth Dare's jeans while Castiel hung his head regretfully.

Annabeth figured the secret meeting was over and quietly left the area, heading towards the beach where she believed she could find Percy.

Will, meanwhile, was collapsing in relief as he found that Nico's vital signs were perfectly fine and that his new boyfriend would not be suffering from any fatal wounds any time soon.

He didn't know how long he'd sat there holding Nico's hand, waiting for the pale boy to wake up, before Annabeth barged into the infirmary with Percy hot on her heels. The abruptness of it and the wild emotions in both the intruder's eyes confused Will before he even had a chance to register the fact that he was jealous of Percy.

"Will, what do you know about Revelations?" Annabeth questioned before she'd even fully entered the room.

The son of Apollo stared at her blankly.

"The last book of the Bible? Apocalypse? Apollyon?" Annabeth suggested.

He blinked.

Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. Percy gave Will an understanding smile, so he realized that Annabeth had gone through this set of questioning once before with someone equally uncultured in the ways of the Bible.

"Alright," Annabeth muttered. "Revelations is the last book of the Christian Bible and it discusses how the world will end, basically. Anyways, Apollyon is the Greek version of the demon that guards this place called the Abyss from what I understand. Are you following?"  
"Um, yeah?" Will answered in confusion. "What's this got to do with anything?"

His question seemed to throw off the daughter of Athena as she stared at him for a long while before finally answering him.

"I believe Zeus's punishment for your father might have triggered another Apocalypse." Annabeth continued before he could open his mouth. "Apollo and Apollyon were sometimes interchangeable in the Bible and some believed him to be the same person. When I went to investigate the Winchesters and Castiel, I overheard them say they need to stop Apollyon from destroying the world or something along those lines. So, I'm fairly certain your father's been corrupted or is going through a religious personality split again and it's about to destroy the world."

Will glanced at Percy in confusion. The Seaweed Brain's face mirrored his own expression of confusion.

After a moment of hesitation, Will asked, "What in Hades have you been smoking?"

"That's what I said!" Percy beamed at him which made Will frown slightly.

"Oi," Annabeth muttered. "Okay, let me start over. The guy who attacked Nico with Fido the invisible hellhound, was Crowley, the King of Hell. When I ran off after the Winchesters and Castiel, I overheard the angel and demon king's conversation. They were discussing something about Apollyon destroying the human race. Are you following?"

Will's eyes were narrowed in concentration as he attempted to follow along with the story.

"I did some research and discovered that Apollyon could be the Christian version of Apollo. This Apollyon is a creature that basically signals the beginning of the Apocalypse," Annabeth finished explaining.

"So, we're going to be…" Will said slowly, "fighting another war to save the world?"

The daughter of Athena nodded gravely.

"Styx."

The three demigods turned to stare at the recently awakened Nico who was frowning - Will would have called it pouting but he was sure Nico would kill him if he did.

Will tackled his boyfriend before remembering the hellhound that Annabeth had dubbed Fido.

As the young doctor worried over Nico, Percy pulled Annabeth to the side.

"Are you sure, Wise Girl? I mean, you go around telling everyone there's going to be another war like the one we had a week ago… Look, I believe you but get more evidence or talk to the Winchesters about all this before warning everyone," he warned her.

She gave him one of her sassiest looks and he immediately knew that he shouldn't have said anything. "Seaweed Brain, did you really think I hadn't already thought of that?" she scoffed. "I just wanted to warn Will and Nico, though, since they might be involved."

Percy smiled proudly at her before slinging an arm around her shoulder. "That's why you're my Wise Girl, you always think things through."

Annabeth laughed as Percy kissed her forehead.

"I'm going to go talk to the Winchesters and try to get some info from them, if that's alright?"

His girlfriend waved him off so he strolled out of the infirmary to find Dean Winchester to figure out what exactly was going on. Although he seemed carefree, Percy was worried that this was going to end up like his first summer at Camp Half-Blood with Luke Castellan. Luke had befriended him only to attempt to kill him later on, what if Dean Winchester had a similar idea?

Briefly, Percy thought about heading to the beach to see if he could find any answers there but the brief glimpse of a gun changed his mind.

Turning he caught sight of the sawed off shotgun in Dean Winchester's hands as the hunter made his way towards a beautiful, black Impala that sat near Thalia's tree. Chiron must have allowed the Winchesters to bring their car in while Percy had been wasting the day away by the beach.

The older Winchester was putting the gun up in the trunk of his car as Percy ran up to him. The two brothers weren't talking to each other and the distance between the two was filled with tension.

"Hey, everything okay?" Percy asked as he approached the two.

"Oh, yeah," Dean smiled some horribly fake smile. "We're just helping the damn King of Hell in his noble quest to stop some damn fallen god from destroying the world as we know it. Oh, and our fucking angel has disappeared to god know's where. Everything super."

Sam gaped at his brother as did Percy.

"You mean, it's true? There's going to be another war that we have to fight to save the world?" Percy asked.

Dean gave Percy a soft pat on the shoulder and a tiny, sympathetic smile. "If it makes you feel any better, this is our second Biblical Apocalypse."

The three stood in tense silence for a long moment.

Percy suddenly spoke up with his usual confidence. "So, since it's possibly the end of the world, can I drive your car?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not really long and not really what I was planning but here you are… I may edit this sometime this week if I'm feeling up to it… I'm not feeling too motivated or anything lately so expect some delay in updates.
> 
> I'm really sorry:/ But thank you all for the wonderful reviews:)


	13. Separated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry for the long hiatus! My motivation just kind of disappeared there for awhile but it is back and I hope to update regularly now. No promises, though.

Castiel stood before the gates of the Underworld where he’d come to retrieve one of the three ingredients Crowley had requested. He needed Orpheus’s lyre, a hair from one of the sun chariot’s horses, and one of Artemis’s silver-tipped arrows.

He had taken off while Dean’s back had been turned and was sure the hunter was going to be angry with him. But he knew that if the Winchesters were to survive this apocalypse, he needed to find the ingredients on his own.

As he stood before the gates of the Underworld, he briefly thought it was odd that Crowley had not gone to get the lyre on his own. The moment of suspicion quickly passed, however, as he continued to inspect the gate.

Crowley had been very insistent that Castiel focus solely on the lyre when he entered the Underworld and not get distracted. All the insistency had seemed unwarranted to the angel as he didn’t see what else there was to think of in the world of the dead.

The gate was a graffiti rendering of a skeletal doorway that emblazoned the side of one of the many Los Angeles alleyways. Crowley had informed him that the only way to enter from this gateway was to wait until the full moon was highest in the sky. All the while he had to remember what it was he wished for most from the realm of the dead.

He really did not understand why Crowley had insisted on repeating the instructions more than once.

When he glanced skyward, he saw that the moon had yet to reach its greatest height.

With a few minutes left, the angel of the Lord wondered how a lyre could be used to stop the upcoming apocalypse. And why this lyre, in particular? Was it a special, magical? Or was it a special relic of the ancient Greeks’ worship of Apollo?

He continued his musings as he placed a hand upon the skeletal art piece to push upon it as the moon had reached its zenith.

The gate opened with difficulty, leading Castiel to assume that this entrance had not been used in the last few decades, at least. Beyond the gate was nothing, only the deepest of blacks. Castiel had no idea what lay before him nor did he know if the gaping hole could be trusted, but - to save the Winchesters - he pushed aside his momentary concern and stepped into the black hole.

Once through he’d stepped all the way through, his eyes began to register the dim light of a lone torch that burned in the darkness of the narrow underground tunnel. Without questioning how the torch had come to be there, the angel removed it from its stand before moving forward.

It took him around thirty minutes of walking before he realized that he was walking in circles. He had passed the metal torch holder that was mounted into the wall over three times.

The angel’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as he glanced back and forth down the tunnel trying to think of any branching tunnels he might have seen while he had been walking in circles. But he could not recall a single one. Just to double check, Castiel began walking again, hoping to find a tunnel that branched out of the one he was stuck in.

When he found the torch holder for a fourth time, he determined that he had walked straight into a trap.

Only then did he realize that his angelic powers were rendered rather useless due to some intense, unknown power that was weighing down upon him.

Just as he was sat down to think of a plan, he heard a woman’s voice calling out from somewhere in the tunnel. It was quiet, at first, so quiet that he had almost missed it but over time the voice became louder and more distinct.

She was calling out to him. Asking him a question.

Just as the words she spoke became clear to the angel, the woman appeared out of the darkness. Half her body was blended in with the darkness around her with one green eye sparkling in the black, while the other half of her was white with one gray eye standing out amongst the light.

“What do you wish for most, my pet?” the woman asked with a predatory smile.

(***)

After getting Sharkboy away from his car with promises to talk to him later, Dean was finally able to call Bobby to let him know what was going on.

Bobby, of course, wanted to know what the hell his boys were doing babysitting a bunch of kids when there were demons and monsters running wild. Once Dean could finally explain, Bobby’s only response was to release an aggravated sigh.

“Can’t you idjits go one week without some apocalyptic bullshit?” the older man grumbled. “Ugh… Gimme a second.”

Dean waited patiently on the phone as he heard what sounded like whiskey being poured on the other end of the line. The sound of ice clinking against a glass reached the older Winchester’s ears.

“Alright,” said the gruff voice of Bobby Singer, “so, what creature wants to kill you two dumbasses now?”

Dean smirked. “I just need you to tell me all you can about the god Apollo and a creature Apollyon.”

With the veteran hunter now digging through his archives to find information on the rogue god, Dean hung up the phone to talk to his brother. Except, his brother had run off sometime during the conversation.

The damn angel flies off, the Asshat of Hell is missing, and now the jerk’s missing, Dean thought angrily. He was really getting tired of people disappearing on him.

As he stared out at the campgrounds, in an attempt to spot his brother, he spotted a bright mop of blonde hair coming out of the Big House infirmary. Guilt washed over him in waves as he thought about how close Nico di Angelo had been to death. If they had been a few seconds late... 

No, stop, he chastised himself, that is not a road you need to go down right now.

Instead of heading to the infirmary to check on the son of Hades, Dean headed towards the beach in hopes of finding Percy. Aquaman had insisted on the two of them meeting on the beach in a few hours, Dean hoped the guy was as impatient as he was because he wanted to get this conversation over with.

The dark haired boy had immediately launched into a series of questions ranging from was he a spy (no.) to was he the reason Nico was in the infirmary (not really.) to could he drive the Impala (hell no!).

As he walked, the hunter thought about how he’d nearly lost everyone he cared about because of Lucifer. His half-brother was gone, locked away somewhere in Hell with Lucifer and Michael. Ellen and Jo were dead, along with Ash. He’d sacrificed so much and lost so many people because of those damn angels and demons. What was he going to have to sacrifice to defeat Apollyon?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was a good chapter that makes up for the last few months. Again, so sorry! I’m trying my best to stay on task and finish this but there’s been so much stress and not enough motivation. Thank you all for being so patient and positive with your reviews!!!


	14. Memories

The waves crashed rhythmically along the shore as Percy sat just beyond their reach, staring out at the horizon. He had thought about going for a swim but after his drowning incident back in the Ancient Lands, Percy had been a little more wary of water.

The young adult sat on the sand with his legs pulled up to his chest before wrapping his arms tightly around them.

While the waves created a gentle background noise, the son of Poseidon's thoughts drifted off to his past few summers at Camp Half-Blood. All he could have ever wished for was a normal summer at camp, no earth shattering prophecies and no gods trying to kill him. Was that too much to ask for?

Apparently, it was.

His friends were either dying or getting seriously injured… Or they were trying to kill him.

For the hundredth time in his life, Percy Jackson wished that he could just snap his fingers and be a normal kid. Living with his mother, going to community college, with no monsters, and no more prophecies. He wanted his world-ending problems to consist of acne and college exams.

He continued to stare dejectedly out at sea for about half an hour before someone approached him.

"Hey, Sharkboy," came the deep voice of the one who had intruded on Percy's alone time.

The demigod glanced behind him to see the flannel-wearing dork of a hunter standing a few feet away. When the hunter sat down beside him, Percy released his legs so that they could stretch out on the shore.

"Is it already five p.m.?" the boy asked quietly.

"No," the man answered gruffly. "But, figured we should get all this out of the way as quickly as possible. What do you think?"

Percy nodded to no one in particular.

Despite this agreement, the two remained silent for another minute, both lost in their pasts.

Finally, Percy turned to face the older Winchester. "Who are you? I mean, who are you really? Why are you here? And what do you want to do in or with Camp Half-Blood?"

"I'm just Dean Winchester. My father trained me at a young age to fight and kill monsters like hellhounds or wendigos. Sometimes, my brother and I kill gods, but only when they're killing innocent people," Dean started. "We thought some of the things in the newspapers in this area were interesting and decided to check it out. That's, honestly, the only reason we're here. Though, I'm pretty sure some asshat gods had a hand in orchestrating all this. I don't want to do anything with this camp. Growing up, this would have been heaven to me."

Percy stared at the man that had cheated him at sword fighting earlier, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not.

The man gave the son of Poseidon a sideways glance and a sad smile before staring out at the ocean, again.

"Y'know what would be great right about now?" Dean asked. Percy quirked eyebrow, so the hunter continued, "A beer."

The demigod laughed aloud at the hunter.

"Can't get you a beer, but how's a soda sound?" Percy offered.

Dean shrugged his shoulders at the offer and stood to follow Percy to the sodas.

The two walked in relative silence as they made their way towards the Hermes cabin. The tension between the two had lessened but not completely faded. Percy was still wary of the hunter, for fear of letting his guard down and getting stabbed in the back.

In an attempt to lessen the tension, Percy started asking questions. "So, how does one train to be a hunter?"

The dejected scoff that answered his question told the son of Poseidon more than he had anticipated. Maybe these hunters weren't just ordinary humans. The way the older Winchester seemed to age at the very idea of answering such a careless question, showed Percy just how serious the man's childhood had been.

Having gotten his answer, Percy hadn't expected to receive a verbal response.

"You program yourself to be a mindless soldier."

The man trudged ahead of Percy as if that would help him block out the memories. Percy let the man lead them in silence, knowing fully well how it was to have an abnormal childhood.

(***)

Will Solace had been forced away from the infirmary by his siblings and Nico. Apparently, he was too much of a mother hen about Nico.

The boy couldn't help it. Nico was just so accident prone and Will didn't want to lose his new boyfriend because of some hellhound.

Speaking of which, why hadn't they been able to see the hellhound in the forest?

And who the Hades was that douche nozzle that sent Fido after his boyfriend?

His frustration and anger only grew as he realized how little he could do to help Nico and how cowardly he had been during the attack. All he could do was heal, he was no use in a fight. What good was he to Nico if he couldn't even stop a hellhound?

As the son of Apollo wandered aimlessly through camp, he stumbled upon the Stoll brothers.

Travis and Connor were setting up some sort of magical contraption behind their cabin.

"Hey, guys," Will whispered. He knew the Hermes cabin leaders well enough to know that they didn't want to be caught.

Connor barely glanced up at him. "Hey, Solace. Wanna help us out?"

"Sure! This a prank for those hunters?"

The evil glint in the brothers' eyes were a definite 'yes'.

The three settled into finishing up the contraption, which was supposed to covered one of the Winchesters in magical purple glitter. With Will's help, the prank included nursery rhymes and a bit of chicken feathers to go with the sparkles.

Just as the three finished up, they caught sight of a rather downcast Winchester heading their way with the legendary Perceus Jackson not far behind.

The brothers shared a look. They weren't going to use the prank on this Winchester, not when he looked so miserable. The guy might have tried to kill their dad once, but they couldn't bring themselves to pull the prank on puppy-like hunter.

"I think I saw the big oaf one near the Athena cabin," Travis offered.

Will vaguely wondered what had caused such a shift in the normally cocky Winchester, but quickly forgot about it when the Stoll brothers ran off after Sam.

Eventually, the three of them found Sam Winchester relaxing in the Athena cabin. From what they could hear, from where they were hiding outside the cabin, Sam and Annabeth were going over Bible verses.

"Didn't know Annabeth was thinking about going to Christianity," Travis joked.

The brothers looked like two kids on Christmas morning, about to unwrap their presents.

"Shouldn't we get Annabeth out first?" Will asked out of genuine concern.

"Nah, don't worry about it," Connor assured him.

Travis continued, "We've got it rigged so it'll only attach to a Winchester."

Will was still uncertain, as the brothers' pranks tended to backfire quite often. But before he could stop them, the Stolls were already putting the prank into motion. Travis leapt to his feet to open the door only to close it the second Connor tossed the contraption inside.

Merely seconds after the door closed, the windows of the cabin were lit up by a purple light.

The three culprits had just finished high-fiving each other when the door opened to reveal a very peeved and sparkly chicken. As the three backed away from the cabin the angry chicken opened its mouth and screamed, "HICKORY DICKORY DOCK!"

It took all they had not to burst into laughter right then and there.

The now confused chicken started spouting all sorts of different nursery rhymes that the three pranksters were certain would have been curse words had Will not added a lot Apollo magic to their magical blend.

However, all the fun was over when Annabeth stepped out.

"Travis, Connor, and William," Annabeth said slowly. "You boys are in so much trouble."

With the prank over and the scary daughter of Athena on their tails, the three ran as fast as they could away from the scene of the crime, laughing the entire way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First: Do not get used to me updating this quickly! This is mostly just to make up for the long wait and the short chapter before this.
> 
> Second: I know the whole Castiel issue has not been resolved, yet. It will be in the next chapter, I promise!
> 
> Third: Have I been forgiven, yet?
> 
> Thank you all for reading and I will update as soon as possible!


	15. Amusement

The clock ticking on the far side of the room was not helping Bobby Singer's headache in the least. Then again, neither was the alcohol.

As he leaned over the desk to study the ancient tome before him, he considered shooting the clock for the hundredth time. There really was no reason for the clock to be ticking so loudly, especially when he needed to concentrate on finding something that would help his boys.

Books were piled haphazardly on his desk but he ignored them as he read through one page in particular a few times.

He'd already gone through the Bible a few times, only to chunk it at a wall when the literary mumbo-jumbo had been too much for him. It wasn't like he didn't understand what was being said, it was just that his migraine was seriously affecting his comprehension of words.

Now, he had some ancient book about different views on the end of the world.

Apollyon was definitely involved in at least one account of the apocalypse, but he didn't do much. The angel of the abyss was more of the gate opener who let out all the demons from the darkest parts of the land of the dead and let them roam freely. If Apollyon was going to become active, that meant the boys had much bigger game to hunt.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse described in the passages he was finding were nothing like the one's the Winchesters had fought during the war against Lucifer. These horsemen had entire armies and were practically unstoppable in their quest to destroy a third of mankind.

Dean had described Apollyon as a Knight of Hell, which was the strongest of all the demons Bobby had ever heard of. If the fallen sun god was as strong as a Knight of Hell, these horsemen were probably more on Lucifer's level.

Bobby did not want to see another one of his boys sacrificing their lives for the greater good. Sam had already lost his soul and Dean was losing his goddamn mind with all the guilt he kept assigning to himself.

But, if Apollyon was as strong as people were making him out to be, Bobby knew that not everyone was going to make it out alright. He knew some wouldn't make it out alive this time, and a selfish part of him didn't care who died as long as his boys lived. He didn't want another Soulless Sam or Zombie Dean.

Then there was God's wrath and the antichrist to worry about.

He vaguely remembered the boys telling him about a young boy they'd met on a hunt that had turned out to be the antichrist; but that kid had disappeared so as not to be corrupted by the demons or the Winchesters. Could that kid be coming back? If so, was he going to be the evil monster described in most Christian literature? Or was the antichrist going to be some conglomeration of Greek and Christian monsters?

As those questions popped up in his mind, Bobby focused even harder on finding something, anything, that could help Sam and Dean.

But even as Bobby read, he knew there was nothing in these books about stopping the fallen sun god nor the apocalypse.

Apollyon was only acting as a green light for the destruction of the world and if they had only five days to stop him they were screwed.

Bobby groaned as he rubbed at his eyes.

As much as he hated to say it, the boys were on there own this time. He'd keep an eye out for any new information, but as it stood there was nothing he could help them with. His boys were going to have to fly solo for awhile. It was with that thought that he called Dean back to inform him that he was out of ideas.

(***)

Dean handled the phone call with Bobby fairly well, he hadn't expected Bobby to find anything new but figured it had been worth a try. When he hung up Percy had caught up with him and was staring at him with wide eyes.

For a second, Dean worried that he still had hellhound blood on his face, that was until he heard Sammy.

Turning he saw what could only be described as blackmail at its finest. Sam was coated, head-to-toe, in purple glitter and chicken feathers. Of course, the big dork looked pissed as all hell and it was purely magical for Dean.

"Get Baa, Baa, Black here, you little sheep!" Sam was screaming as he ran after three campers.

The three campers were heading straight for Dean and Percy. Dean recognized the Stoll brothers and Will Solace as they ran past.

Sam stopped just before Dean with pure rage in his eyes. "Hey Diddle, Diddle!"

Dean stared at his little brother with open amusement upon his face as the taller of the two tried to talk around the rhymes. Next to the Winchesters, Percy looked like his head was about to explode from holding in the laughter.

"Where'd those Three Blind Mice go?"

"Uh, Sammy," Dean laughed. "You havin' some problems talkin' there?"

He was answered with a glare that only made Dean and Percy laugh harder.

"Dean!" Sam cried out in frustration as he tried to be taken seriously.

"Okay, okay, I'm good," Dean said with a small cough to cover up the last of his chuckles. "What happened to you, Sammy?"

"I'm a little tea…" Sam shut his mouth and pursed his lips, afraid to go on. Dean just stared at him with the excitement of a child. Sam tried again, "Those kids threw a thing into one of the teapots. And I chased after them because when I get all steamed up, hear me shout, 'tip me over and pour me out.'"

He'd spoken so fast that he hadn't caught what he had said until it was too late. Dean and Percy were leaning on each other for support as they thoroughly enjoyed Sam's discomfort. Without saying another word, Sam trudged off in the direction he thought the three perpetrators had gone.

About twenty feet away he heard Dean call after him, "No, no, Mother Goose, come tell us more. We really wanna know!"

Sam didn't turn around but did smile when he heard Annabeth yell at his brother to shut up.

As he ran through camp, he got quite a few odd looks from campers as he passed by them. He could hear a few of them laughing at him but none of that was nearly as bad as when he ran right into Chiron. The centaur gave him a shocked look before sighing and patting the Winchester's head sympathetically.

Sam had looked awkwardly off in the distance to hide how embarrassed he was to be caught by the camp activities director in such a state. But when he started to explain, he remembered the rhymes and wisely kept his mouth shut.

"The Stolls are most likely hiding out by the Hermes cabin, please don't harm any of my campers," Chiron said with exasperation. Clearly, this had happened before.

"Humpty Dumpty," Sam responded. He'd meant to say 'thank you' and cursed himself for even opening his mouth.

Who the hell put a rhyming spell on people? And nursery rhymes? Really? Dean was never going to let him live this one down.

Eventually, he did find the Stolls and Will Solace hiding out behind the Hermes cabin. From where they were, they couldn't see him as they were all bent over catching their breaths.

"Gods, that was funny!" one of the Stoll brothers laughed between breaths.

The other Stoll brother continued, "'Hickory Dickory Dock!' Oh gods! That was beautiful, Willy boy!"

Will Solace smiled as he straightened, "That was pricele… Oh no."

The son of Apollo had looked straight into the eyes of one angry moose.

The Stoll brothers turned and immediately stopped their laughter. They all turned to run but Sam reached out and grabbed the collars of one Stoll brother and Will. The last Stoll brother ran a few feet before his brother's cries caused him to stop.

"Little Boy Blue, take this curse off me, now!" Sam commanded.

"Oh, that's a lovely look for you, Samantha," came a voice from behind Sam.

Sam glanced over his shoulder to find Crowley a few feet away with a smug look on his face that made Sam want to deck him right in the face. The three boys stared at the newcomer with a mixture of suspicion and respect.

Without letting his captives go, Sam turned to face the King of Hell. "Rain, Rain Go Away, Crowley."

"Is that anyway to treat an old friend, Moose? I just wanted to drop in and say 'hi.' Seems I caught you in the middle of something important, though."

The younger Winchester gave the demon king an annoyed bitch face that only helped to amuse Crowley more.

Crowley leaned toward the taller Winchester before matter-of-factly telling him, "Say, have you ever heard of a nursery rhyme called, Where Has Dean's Little Angel Gone? It's a lovely tale about an angel that gets taken away, but no one can find him except for good ol' Moose and Squirrel. Should really listen to it one day."

With that cryptic message delivered, Crowley vanished.

"Pop Goes the Weasel," Sam muttered angrily under his breath.

The two captives were released from his grip but they remained frozen in place as they stared at the place Crowley had disappeared from.

"What the Hades was that all about?" one Stoll brother asked.

But Sam was already running across the campgrounds, no longer worried about the curse or the sparkles. Castiel was in trouble and he had to find Dean as soon as possible.

(***)

"What do you wish for, my pet?"

The woman before him repeated her question a few more times before Castiel finally answered her.

"I wish to retrieve the lyre of Orpheus, ma'am."

The woman gave him a kind smile that sent up a red flag to Castiel. Something was off, this woman was not as kind as she appeared.

The dark half of her body was merely a flickering shadow that took the vague form of a woman. The lighter side of her body, however, showed the face of a beautiful woman with dark flowing locks but there was something forced about the kindness she expressed. Her eyes seemed to be staring through him as if she was searching within him for all his deepest desires and secrets. Or maybe the eerie lighting was just causing his nerves to get the best of him.

"That is not what my pet wishes for most, though, is it?" the woman said at length.

Castiel stared at her in confusion. Of course, that's what he wanted most. What else was there in the land of the dead that he could possibly want?

The woman smiled knowingly as she continued, "Do you not wish for your Father to return? Or maybe your fallen brothers and sisters to be returned to you? Alive and intact. Do you not wish for the Winchesters to be safe, forevermore? What is it that you truly wish for most, my dear?"

"Who are you?" Castiel asked, the suspicion coming back with full force.

"I am Melinoe, the overseer of the propitiations offered to the ghosts of the dead."

The angel of the Lord leaned away from her as he furrowed his brow. "I am not dead, ma'am."

The smile that stretched over her face was one of merriment. "Not yet, my pet, not yet. But you will be soon, Castiel."

Just as she finished her sentence, Castiel pulled out his angel blade to attack only to be held back by a dozen pair of shimmering limbs that had shot out from the darkness of the tunnel.

Castiel stared fearfully up at the smiling woman as the limbs pulled him into the darkness.

"Do not fear, Deary, my lady will be sure you get everything you wish for," the woman called out to him cheerfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada! I'm rather proud of this chapter, actually! Hope you guys liked it, too!
> 
> Anywho, I resolved the cliffhanger with Castiel only to leave you with another one, I'm horrible, I'm sorry! BUT! Now everything is about to get serious and the plot is really moving along


	16. Quest

The day had started out wonderfully for Thalia. The Hunters had finished their morning training and were relaxing in the Artemis cabin while Thalia strolled through the camp. She had not seen hide nor hare of the "hunters" all day and was just starting to get her hopes up when she saw it.

"Holy Styx," she muttered to herself.

The taller Winchester was covered from head-to-toe in purple glitter. Feathers were spread here and there on the man but most stood out on the Winchester's head like some sort of bizarre headpiece.

"Twinkle, Twinkle!" Sparkles the Magic Chicken cried out when he saw her.

As the man drew nearer, Thalia broke down laughing.

The idiot had probably walked straight into one of the Hermes campers' traps. Thalia was going to have to thank those Hermes boys for the irked masterpiece that now stood before her.

"Oh my gods, you really pissed off those Hermes kids, didn't you?" she laughed.

"Dean Had a Little Lamb, where has he gone?" the Winchester asked urgently.

Thalia was laughing so hard she thought she might pass out if she didn't get more air in her lungs soon. The Hermes kids had gotten someone from the Apollo cabin in on it, too. She'd pay the kids a thousand drachmas to do the same thing to the other Winchester.

Sam kept trying to ask her something through the nursery rhyme spell, and Thalia eventually tried to take him seriously. That was until…

"Where, O Where Has My Little Dean Gone?" Sam practically shouted at her in annoyance.

Thalia doubled over in her fit of laughter. This was just too priceless.

"Sammy, there you are!" Dean called out just as Sam was turning to leave.

The older brother stopped just short of the two with Percy Jackson and Annabeth not far behind. Thalia tried and failed to look intimidating as she continued to laugh at the younger Winchester's discomfort.

When Sam reached over and grabbed his brother's shoulders in a tight grip, however, Thalia's laughing died away.

"Castiel. Is. Missing," Sam told Dean slowly.

Dean paled as all the humor of the past few minutes died away almost immediately. The seriousness in both the Winchesters' faces even made Percy's casual smile falter. Something was seriously wrong.

Who would kidnap an angel, Thalia asked herself.

When Rachel Elizabeth Dare came up to stand beside her, Thalia more felt than saw her.

"The man went wandering into the land of angels and entered into the gate of the spirits to retrieve the dead music of the sun. Seven heroes will go west to find the lost lamb before the Dark Thought of the Underworld grants him his wishes," the Oracle proclaimed. "However, only two will make it to the lamb. Three will burn with the sun. While three others will lose their way, hunting for something far greater than a lamb of God."

Percy stared long and hard at his feet as he asked, "Is that a prophecy?"

"The best I can do for now," Rachel Elizabeth Dare replied.

Thalia shared a look with Percy before they spoke in unison, "We'll go talk to Chiron."

Annabeth went off to talk to Nico about gateways into the underworld while Thalia and Percy headed to the Big House with the Oracle to explain everything to Chiron. The Winchesters stayed put as they continued some unspoken conversation.

Only a couple hours later, as the sky became darker and the clock neared six, the campers gathered in the amphitheatre as Chiron had instructed them to.

Chiron stared at the gathered campers as the campfire burned an eerie gray color. Rachel Elizabeth Dare had just finished informing the campers of recent events involving Castiel and Crowley. Now, Chiron just needed to find seven kids that were willing to go.

Scratch that. He needed to find four kids. Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth had already demanded to be on the quest.

"We need four more people to go on the quest, if you would like to go please tell me now," Chiron said to the campers.

The Winchesters glanced around before the older one raised his hand.

"Sammy and I are gonna go, too," Dean informed the centaur.

He should have seen that one coming, too. Of course, these two human beings would want to go save their friend even if they would die trying. Athena and Ares had blessed them, though, so maybe that would be enough to protect them.

"Very well, then," Chiron sighed. "I need two others to…"

"I'm going."

Chiron's head snapped to the young Apollo camper who had spoken.

Will Solace wasn't a fighter or the kind of camper that went on quests. There was no way Chiron could allow Will to go on this quest. The boy had no way to protect himself, in fact, whenever he tried to he usually ended up injuring himself more than anything.

"Then I'm going, too," came another voice.

This time it had been the son of Hades that had volunteered.

"What!? No! You're still not allowed to use your Underworld-y powers, remember? Doctor's orders," Will shouted.

Nico di Angelo rolled his eyes at the son of Apollo. "Will, if I don't go then you're gonna get yourself killed. Besides, we're going to the underworld and no one here knows the underworld better than me."

"Nico is right," Chiron said before Will could protest further. "You all will need him for this, but Will are you sure you want to do this?"

Part of the old centaur was hoping that the son of Apollo would back out but, when the camper nodded his head with determination on his face, Chiron knew there was no talking the boy out of going.

Chiron glanced at the Oracle to see if she was showing any signs of unease at the group that had volunteered. Instead, he found that the redhead seemed rather pleased with the turn of events.

With an uneasy sigh, Chiron nodded his head. "Okay, then. When will you be leaving?"

"Now, would probably be best," Rachel Elizabeth Dare casually suggested as she went back to doodling on her jeans.

(***)

Persephone had been tending to her garden when her daughter showed up with some freak of nature being dragged behind her. The creature had the figure of a man but she could sense the power underneath the illusion. She couldn't quite place what creature he was but she assumed it was not one of Greek origin.

He kept quiet as the spirits dragged him towards her.

Melinoe looked immensely proud of herself as she neared her mother.

"What are you doing, Melanie?" Persephone griped.

The half-white goddess sulked as she stopped a few feet away. "Melinoe."

Persephone waved in the woman's general direction. "That's what I said."

"I brought a man who entered through my gates with a wish, Mother."

The man's face was blank as he stared at the Queen of the Underworld. He wanted something, that was for sure, but to enter willingly into Melinoe's gates was unheard of in this day and age. Someone must have tricked the poor creature or he entered on accident.

Either way, he had a wish and Persephone was queen so she was going to grant his wish. Of course, the creature was going to have to work for it or finish a sufficient challenge before she granted it.

"What is it you wish for?" Persephone asked without emotion.

"I came for the lyre of Orpheus," the man replied calmly.

Orpheus's lyre? What on earth was this idiot thinking? She thought to herself as she turned to fully face the creature and her daughter. Everyone knew how much Persephone and her husband enjoyed the music produced from Orpheus's lyre and only a complete dimwit would ever come into their realm to take it from them.

"I'm afraid my husband and I rather enjoy that lyre," Persephone told him icily.

The freak of nature gave her confused look and seemed to have completely ignored the threat in her tone. Not even a twinkle of fear entered the man's blue eyes as he continued to stare at her with his eyebrows furrowed in bafflement.

"But," he explained, unperturbed, "we need it to save the world. Without the lyre of Orpheus, Apollyon will rise and begin the apocalypse."

That caused the queen to pause.

Apollyon was a name she hadn't heard of in a long while. The last time that name had been uttered in the presence of the gods had been centuries ago when Apollo had warned them that he would one day bring about the end of the world.

"No, no," Persephone plastered an empty smile upon her face. "No. Apollo has not been tainted by the darkness, thus he could not have become the Angel of the Abyss."

"Zeus sent him to wander through the Fields of Asphodel for a couple centuries," the man began.

Before he could finish, though, Melinoe interrupted, "Mother! He has a wish! Grant it so I can kill him!"

Persephone stared wearily into the blue eyes of the monster before her as she thought of her options. On one hand, she could risk that the creature was telling the truth, give him his lyre and hope he survived her daughter's attack. On the other hand, he could be lying and if she gave him the lyre she would lose one of the most beautiful things in her kingdom.

After a moment of deliberation, she groaned. "Alright, here is what I will do."

The man and her daughter looked up at her expectantly.

Persephone really hated being the Queen of the Underworld sometimes.

(***)

The seven volunteers for the quest were standing at the edge of the camp's borders only an hour later. Dean was throwing bags into the back of his Chevy Impala while Sam claimed shotgun. Nico, Will, and Thalia were already seated in the backseat.

Next to the car stood a black horse with wings that kept shooting Dean dirty looks before neighing conspiratorially with Percy who was trying to hide his laughter from the extremely peeved Winchester. Annabeth sat comfortably atop Blackjack while her boyfriend talked with him.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare had disappeared into the woods with Lou Ellen the moment the campfire meeting had ended. But Chiron and the Hunters of Artemis had come by to wish them luck on their journey just before they had left.

Thalia had launched into a long lecture to the girl she had put in charge while she was gone. Will worried that Thalia was going to make the poor girl cry with all the pressure she was putting onto the Hunter.

"Well," Dean called out cheerfully as he closed the trunk of his car, "who's ready for this fun little field trip, kiddies?"

Thalia flipped him off in response as Nico rolled his eyes. Will smiled and threw an arm around Nico to show his excitement. Percy snorted while Annabeth sighed in mock annoyance.

As the older Winchester climbed into the Impala, he turned slightly to look at the demigods in the backseat. "Before we go, remember that driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole. No complaining or whining. I will drop you off in the middle of nowhere just for the fun of it if you get on my nerves, understood?"

The moment Dean cranked the car and the classic rock started playing, Will knew that this was going to be a blast. With his heart thumping in his chest and the adrenaline pumping, Will clung even tighter to Nico who smiled in amusement at the excited boy.

The car moved and they crossed the camp's borders. Will's first quest had officially started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be updating on Fridays from now on!:)


	17. Rest

After making only a handful of stops at gas stations and over thirty hours of driving, the quest takers finally made it to some small town in Colorado. Dean was more than ready to keep driving straight to Los Angeles to find that damn angel, as soon as possible, but Percy's flying horse decided otherwise. The horse thing collapsed from exhaustion without warning in the middle of the street, causing a serious car wreck that miraculously left the horse and heroes unharmed.

After that little incident, Dean gave in and pulled into a motel for them to rest.

"What the Hades are you doing?" Thalia demanded to know as she leaned forward in her seat. She looked at the older Winchester like he'd lost his mind.

"Stopping to rest?" Dean muttered in confusion.

The hell was wrong with this girl? Did she have to gripe about everything they did?

Percy parked his horse in the parking space beside Dean's Baby. "Wow, why did we never think of that?"

Dean raised an eyebrow at the shocked kid. Had they never stayed in a motel before or something? They were acting like he had just discovered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. He really could not understand how these people could travel all over the continent and never have stayed in a freaking motel. It was the cheapest place to go that had a bed.

"Whenever we go on quests we just sleep outside or under an overpass or something," Annabeth explained with pursed lips. Apparently, she was upset she hadn't thought of it before. "Though we did stay in that Lotus Hotel once."

"Have you people never slept in a motel before?" Sam asked in confusion. At least, his little brother agreed with him.

All of the kids - except Will and Thalia - shook their heads no.

"Well," Dean said with a quick glance at his brother, "you guys are in for a treat. I'll go reserve three rooms. Girls sleep in one room, you boys share another, and Sammy will be rooming with me. Understood?"

Nico's pale features took on a bit of a blush as he squirmed in the backseat. Thalia was giving the Winchesters a glare, Dean was too tired to really care, though. And Percy was sulking, probably upset that he wasn't rooming with Annabeth. Like hell Dean was going to leave those two lovebirds alone in a motel room.

Annabeth and Will seemed to be the only two, besides the Winchesters, that were okay with the arrangement.

Once the rooms had been paid for, Dean handed a key off to Thalia, who glared at him for a solid minute before snatching the key out of his hand. He really didn't understand that girl. Will quickly grabbed the second room key and all but dragged Nico inside. Maybe pairing them up was a bad idea, but perhaps Percy could keep them from doing anything too stupid.

But when Dean turned to look at the legendary hero, he found Percy struggling to open a bag of chips he'd gotten from a nearby vending machine. How was this kid still alive? Just as he thought of the question, Annabeth reached over and snatched the bag of chips from her boyfriend, before promptly ripping the bag open to hand back to the amazed son of Poseidon.

The boy was a lost cause without Annabeth, even Dean could see that. He smiled to himself as he looked on. When Sam coughed behind him, Dean grumbled irritably.

Sammy was never going to let him live it down if he went around having a bunch of chick flick moments.

"Wait!" Annabeth called out as the Winchesters moved to their motel room.

She dragged a half asleep Percy with her as she rushed to stand before the two brothers.

"We need to talk about the prophecy Rachel Elizabeth Dare gave us, some parts of it really confused me," the daughter of Athena whispered.

Dean rubbed at his face in an attempt to fight away the sleepiness. When he glanced over to see how his brother was faring with such little sleep, he found that Sammy was focusing all of his attention on the blonde. Those two were such dorks.

He motioned for them to follow them into his and Sam's room to continue the discussion.

Before he closed the door, the pegasus caught his eye again. "You sure it's okay to just leave that out there?"

Percy peered around him before replying. "Oh, yeah. People will just think it's a motorcycle thanks to the Mist."

Dean shrugged as he closed the door.

"Okay, first off," Annabeth did not beat around the bush, it seemed, "I am not too optimistic about the fact that the Oracle said we were going to divide up. Especially, when three people will be burning with the sun."

Percy's normally goofy expression morphed into one of contemplative seriousness. The change of expression was unnerving as neither Winchester had seen the boy be serious.

Annabeth continued, "Then there's the fact that she listed eight people on the quest. When there's only seven of us."

"Maybe it was just a mistake," Sam suggested, though he didn't look like he believed that either.

"Or she was counting Castiel in that?" Dean added. He really didn't see what the big deal was, so what if the woman counted one extra person.

The daughter of Athena and his own brother gave him matching bitch faces.

"It's highly unlikely that the Oracle would make a mistake. Also, Castiel is the objective in this quest, he would not be counted as a quest taker," Annabeth argued.

The four sat in silence for a moment before Percy asked, "What do you think it is, Wise Girl?"

"I talked to Thalia about this before we left, she thinks what I think. It has to be…"

Before the daughter of Athena could finish her response, there was a knock at the door.

The four of them were on their feet within seconds, all of them armed. The Winchesters had their guns aimed at the door, while the two demigods had unsheathed some sharper weapons.

Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to give Percy Jackson a sword?

"Honeys, I'm home," came the aggravating sound of Crowley.

As Dean walked to the door, he seriously contemplated shooting the bastard on the other side. When the door opened, he began to wish he had pulled the trigger.

On the other side were over three dozen demons with their so-called king tied up in chains before them.

Dean didn't even have time to question the scene in front of him, as the demons leapt on him the moment they caught sight of him. One was taken down by a silver arrow that came from somewhere above.

Percy's sword slammed into the gut of the demon-possessed man that was attacking Dean but it was relatively harmless to the creature.

"Celestial bronze isn't going to help you, silly demigod," the creature rasped as it continued to advance with the sword moving deeper into its chest. There was something about the demon's voice that wasn't right.

Normally, a demon possessed a person and used that person's voice to speak, but this creature had a deep, scratchy voice that did not fit with the young, twenty-something woman before them.

As Dean aimed his gun at the demon, he caught sight of Crowley smirking at him from outside. "They're demons from the abyss," Crowley offered helpfully. Dean was gonna kill that asshat, as soon as he finished ganking these other demons, of course.

One demon grabbed Percy's armed and sent him flying into one of the room's walls. Annabeth kneed that demon in the balls hard enough to cause the creature to fall to its knees, before she rushed to assist Percy. Sam shot at the surging wave of demons that were washing into the room at the same time that Dean shot at the one in front of him.

He pulled the trigger and the demon screeched in annoyance as salt exploded against its meatsuit. But the creature only seemed irritated and angry, not hurt.

The creature cried out in rage as it reached out for the older Winchester's throat. Before he could even react to the threat, the demon's head flew off of its shoulders. The demon crumpled to the ground after what felt like forever to Dean, but was actually just a second. Behind the demon stood a pissed off son of Hades.

"Thought you could handle some pathetic demons?" Nico yelled.

That boy was normally so dorky looking, but damn he was terrifying when he was angry.

Crowley was now lying facedown on the ground and Will was holding his head down with his foot.

The bodies of the demons that had made it into the room were all headless at this point, while the ones outside were all impaled by arrows. Thalia leapt off the top of the building and scoffed at the two hunters whose weapons had been relatively useless.

"Salt may hurt normal demons, but these are from the abyss," Nico was griping. "They're not normal demons, you idiots."

"Then how do we fight them? Just chop off their heads?" Sam was frustrated.

Nothing was going right. Everything was different. Nothing they had learned during their years of hunting mattered anymore.

The seven quest takers regarded each other with frustration and confusion.

Crowley managed to move his head so that he could speak even with Will's foot on his head. "If you wouldn't mind moving Little Miss Sunshine off of me, I would really like to be untied now."

After about ten minutes of negotiating with the demigods, Sam convinced them to let Crowley up. Of course, they only moved Crowley's bonds once he was secure in a devil's trap. The demon king yelled and cussed but to no avail.

"You're no better than those damn demons," he complained. "Putting devil traps on chains, that was just rude. I'll have to punish them all when I get this shit dealt with."

Dean sent a fist flying at the demon's face, just to shut the guy up.

Sam gave him an exasperated look but didn't say anything.

"Why did you send Cas off to the Underworld?" Dean asked.

Crowley just stared at him like he was the biggest idiot to ever walk the earth. "I told him to retrieve Orpheus's lyre and a few other things that are needed to stop Apollyon. When he didn't come back I figured I'd have to do it myself but these bastards tricked me while I went to find some of the items. And if I don't get those three items before Apollyon rises in four days, we're all screwed."

The seven quest takers stared warily at the King of Hell as his words sunk in.

"That's why we're supposed to divide up, huh?" Annabeth muttered under her breath. Then, a little louder, she asked, "What are the items you need?"

"At least one of you has some sense," Crowley sighed. "We need to get Orpheus's lyre, a hair from one of the horses that draw the sun chariot, and one of Artemis's silver-tipped arrows. Did you meatsuits get all that?"

Dean raised his fist to punch the asshat again, but Nico stopped him. "Alright, I'll take Crowley to the Underworld to get the lyre and the angel."

"I'll come, too!" Will offered.

Thalia shook her head. "No, only two will make it to the Lamb of God. That's what the Oracle said. Besides, I think you'd be better off going to get a hair off your father's horses. If he still has them."

Will looked ready to argue but kept his complaints to himself.

"Dad should still have the horses, he shows them off to his kids once every few years," Will explained as he stared nervously at Nico. "He's quite fond of those horses, but they're very irritable creatures."

Percy quirked an eyebrow. "Your dad does that?"

Will just nodded.

"Percy and I will go with Will for extra protection," Dean stated before anyone else could.

Annabeth and Percy shared an anxious look but quickly recovered. They both nodded in consent a moment later.

That left Annabeth, Thalia, and Sam. Thalia smacked herself in the forehead before glaring at the taller hunter.

"Good luck, Sammy," Dean joked to his terrified little brother.

(***)

The Queen of the Underworld was a strange woman that Castiel really could not understand.

One moment, she was ready to send him off to complete some impossible challenge. The next second, she wanted to kill him on the spot or let her daughter kill him. And now she was forcing him to tend to her garden.

He had no idea where the lyre was or if this Persephone was going to allow him to leave her kingdom with it.

She had promised that he could have it but that had been over twenty-four hours ago.

Since then, he'd been left with the creepy Melinoe to pluck dead weeds from the weird garden before them. There were mushrooms of all colors, odd bushes, and luminous plants that sprouted up periodically throughout the garden. Precious gems were strewn about like flowers. It was bizarre, to say the least.

Occasionally, Melinoe would call out from her perch on the branch of a pomegranate tree. "Are you hungry, pet? I have some delicious pomegranates you might enjoy."

Castiel would politely decline each time.

He had no need to eat, so he saw no reason to take from the Queen's garden. In fact, he felt that the Queen would be even angrier with him if he did such a thing and then he would never get that lyre.

Queen Persephone had said that she needed proof of his claim, but he really couldn't give her any proof. The world was about to end and all this woman was worried about keeping some dead guy's lyre.

Castiel sighed. He hoped the Winchesters were able to find a way around the prophecy like they usually did.

A pomegranate smashed right into his face.

"Eat the food," Melinoe cried. Lovely as ever.

The pomegranate disappeared from his face completely and when he looked up he found Persephone standing beside him. She was glaring at her daughter.

"Stop wasting my precious fruits, Melatonin!" the Queen screamed at her fruit throwing daughter. "That is no way to treat our guest! Ugh… No wonder no one ever wishes to come visit, what with you savages everywhere!" She turned her attention to Castiel who stared passively up at her. "Please, excuse my daughter, she's been very rude. I'll make sure she doesn't do it again."

Before Castiel could respond, a loud crash was heard from Melinoe's direction.

Upon investigation, the angel of the Lord found that Melinoe had been buried under a heap of pomegranates.

"Never should have had children," Persephone whined as she retreated back into her palace. "Such ungrateful little barbarians."


	18. Intentions

Percy could not fall asleep no matter how hard he tried. The idea of leaving Annabeth's side for even a few days was absolutely terrifying. He was scared that he was going to lose her and he knew she was just as worried about losing him.

They had been through so much together and had promised to stay together no matter what, only to have another world ending prophecy tear them apart.

Of course, if Athena and Ares thought that the Winchesters were important then they would probably need one of them with each of them. Will was more likely to know where the horses were and Percy was the only one that could speak horse. And he knew Annabeth and Thalia would work well to find Artemis's special arrow.

But he still desperately wished that he could trade places with Sam to stay by his girlfriend's side.

When he forced himself to focus on something other than his depressing thoughts, he found himself lying on top of some dirty motel bedsheets staring up at a dark ceiling. Off to the side he could hear Will and Nico quietly arguing.

As much as Percy was worried about Nico, he trusted the son of Hades to be able to handle himself in the Underworld. In fact, he knew that no other demigod was better qualified to travel through the Underworld.

Maybe he should have been more worried about the kid but all his concern was directed at Annabeth at the moment.

Gods, that made him feel like an Ares-level douchebag. Here he was worried about his overly-intelligent, warrior of a girlfriend rather than the young kid who'd been near death only a few days ago. He really was a shitty friend. A scathing smirk crossed his lips as he realized that his fatal flaw wasn't putting his friends first, it was forgetting his friends.

He'd left Bob in the Underworld with a fake name and no explanations, only to find out that - thanks to Nico - Bob ended up being his and Annabeth's saving grace in Tartarus. He'd been more than ready to just leave Nico in that jar so long ago just because the kid was a little unnerving sometimes. He'd nearly killed Jason without question the first time he'd seen him. He'd been utterly disappointed at first when he'd found out that Tyson was his brother, all because he was too different. Of course, he realized now how important every one of them were in his life but only because hindsight was twenty-twenty.

I'm no better than the gods, Percy thought dejectedly as he stared blankly at the abyss above him.

At that moment, Annabeth's all-too-knowing voice spoke up within his brain. "Don't be stupid, Seaweed Brain. You spent most of the year with no memories and recovering from the last apocalypse."

Percy's expression lightened up a bit as he thought about Annabeth again. He really did not deserve her; she was a genius, she was beautiful, and she was 6,000 leagues above him. For the life of him, he could not figure out what she saw in him but if the world's most perfect girl was in love with him - seaweed brain and all - he wasn't about to question it.

He drifted off to sleep thinking about how he and Annabeth were going to start a new life in New Rome once this was all over.

In the bed next to the sleeping son of Poseidon, Will was fussing over a very sleepy and cranky son of Hades.

"You have to be sure to eat. Say no to drugs. Brush your teeth. Don't talk to strangers. Eat your veggies. No Underworld-y stuff. No shadow-y business. Look both ways before crossing the street. Don't piss off any gods. Don't die. And, above all else…" Will was listing off all the many words of advice he could think of.

Nico rolled over so his back was to the walking ball of sunshine and smiles. "Sh, I'm sleeping."

Will pursed his lips in consternation at the back of Nico's head but continued on stubbornly. "Above all else, please, come back to me safely."

The miserable tone in that normally cheerful voice caused Nico's heart to throb painfully in his chest. He really hated hearing that tone in Will's voice. Gods, what had gotten into him? How had he gone from an awkward friend to sappy boyfriend in less than twenty-four hours? Yesterday he had resigned himself to believing that Will would never care for him as more than a friend and now here he was sharing a bed with the guy.

"Styx," Nico muttered as he rolled back over to stare at the son of Apollo. "I promise to come back alive."

In response, Will beamed and Nico swore the boy glowed when he did.

Nico huffed with fake anger. "Now, I believe it was you that ordered me to sleep every night? I kind of need you to shush to do that."

Will's smile dimmed as it morphed into a sheepish grin. "Sorry." Just as Nico was about to drift off, he heard Will add casually, "Oh, and in the morning, don't freak out if Percy suddenly has an urge to break out into Broadway songs."

A smirk crossed the son of Hades's before sleep overtook him.

In the room next door, the girls were sitting in the dark discussing their plans for the morning. Thalia didn't seem to be affected by the lack of sleep, she had always been a firm believer that sleep was for losers like Percy. Annabeth's ADHD was not allowing her to think about sleep for even a second as there were so many other more fascinating things to focus on.

"What is this arrow we need? Aren't all of the Hunters' arrows silver-tipped?" Annabeth questioned as she paced between the two beds.

Thalia was sprawled out on her bed as the "magic fingers" box allowed the sketchy motel mattress to vibrate softly. "They are all silver-tipped, as in the metal. But Artemis's silver-tipped arrow are tipped in moonlight. Giving it an extra kick. It's pretty damn cool. She never uses it, though. Says it's too powerful to be used for something as hunting wild animals, especially when our normal arrows will suffice."

Annabeth paused in her pacing long enough to soak up this new information before resuming her incessant patrol. "Okay, but where is it?"

"Artemis always has it on her."

It was said casually, like the goddess of the hunt were only a couple blocks away and they could just go knock on her door and could retrieved her most prized possession if they only asked sweetly enough.

"Do you know where Lady Artemis is?" Annabeth questioned, with little hope of a positive answer.

Thalia shook her head in the dark as she continued to enjoy the gentle vibration of the "magic fingers". "Nope. Not a clue."

A groan was the only other sound besides the vibrating bed as Annabeth sunk onto her bed in defeat. She had no clue how they were going to find Artemis in four days, let alone convince her of giving them her most powerful weapon. Artemis knew how to cover her tracks and wouldn't be easy to hunt for.

Then again, this did involve her twin brother, so she might be more willing to assist them. Though, those two siblings had a strange relationship, so Annabeth wasn't completely certain if Artemis would be too concerned over her brother's current predicament. Not to mention, with Zeus pissed as all Hades at Apollo, she doubted many people would be willing to help them out.

Mother, please, help us. I'm confused and worried because I won't have Percy with me. Please, just… I don't know? I need your guidance more than ever. Annabeth pleaded silently to her mother. Then, almost as an afterthought. If you cannot help me, then could you at least protect Percy while he goes on his mission? I know you dislike him, but he means everything to me.

With her prayer done, she curled up on the disgusting bed below her and forced herself to get some rest.

(***)

Rachel Elizabeth Dare stood before Zeus's Fist as she attempted to get a feel for how strong Apollyon was becoming. His power radiated out from the rockpile in powerful waves. It was almost nauseating to be so close to such dark power.

A few feet behind her was Lou Ellen who appeared to be on the verge of throwing up, as well.

"Do y-you think they'll pull it off?" Lou Ellen asked carefully as she took a couple steps away from the overwhelming waves of trepidation that continued to crash into her. She could not stand being so close for long.

The Oracle nodded her head firmly. "They will because they have to."

With that wonderful answer, Lou Ellen called out a quick farewell as she headed back to her room which was free of all dark energies. No one really knew how she played into this whole scheme, except for Crowley. Heck, even she wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to be doing, the King of Hell had only given her cryptic answers or riddles whenever she had asked.

She mumbled under her breath about idiot men as she strolled through the camp.

A couple of Hunters nodded approvingly as though they had heard her grumbling. She quickly shut up before they started offering for her to join their immortal band of merry women.

The whole idea of the Hunters was cool and she could understand why a girl would seek out a life as one, but it just wasn't for her. The whole idea of immortality terrified her. Who would want to live forever? It sounded like more of a curse than a blessing.

Maybe that was the Hecate in her. The whole necromancy and instinctive respect for the dead and whatnot.

She shook her head. This was not the time to be worrying over the proper cycle of life or Hunters. There was work to do and she only had a few days before everything went to Tartarus. She groaned as she reached her cabin.

Her section of the room was cloaked with extra Mist that only she could see through, so that none of her siblings could go snooping through her things. None of them could know what she was preparing to do. She had to figure this Hades of a spell on her own and hope the price for using dark magic wasn't as dramatic as everyone believed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you are! I'll be updating rather quickly… Like once a day, probably, just because I want to make it up to y'all for the past month or so without an update:)


	19. Burgers

Five hours after closing his eyes, Dean opened them again feeling tired as all fucking hell but more awake than he had been five hours ago. Sam was already up and it seemed that Crowley was awake if the cursing coming from the closet was any indication.

Dean rolled off the bed so he could greet His Majesty.

When the door opened, Crowley ceased his profanities to focus on glaring Dean to death. He'd been chained to a chair in a devil's trap all night and he was sore. The Winchesters had gone to sleep immediately, despite Crowley's complaining. In fact, it almost seemed like the Hardy Boys had been lulled to sleep by the King of Hell cursing them in every language he knew.

"Have you blubbering idiots had your fun, yet? I'd really like to get the bloody hell out of these damn chains," Crowley griped.

Dean snorted before closing the door in the demon's face.

"Morning, Sammy," Dean casually greeted as he turned away from the closet.

His brother gave him a mumbled greeting as he continued going over some texts that Annabeth had given him to read.

While Sam continued to peruse through the books and maps, Dean walked out to see if he could find a 7-11 or a McDonalds nearby. He couldn't go on a world saving mission on an empty stomach and the only way to fix an empty stomach was with pie and a greasy burger.

As he walked past Percy's horse monster, it screamed at him. Or brayed. Or whatever the hell those damn things did. The only thing Dean knew for sure was that the horse monster was going to get its ass ganked if it didn't stop scaring the shit out of him.

He stepped away from the crazy creature just as someone came out of one of the motel rooms.

Someone stepped up next to Dean and he could tell it was Nico by the tuft of black hair that stuck out from the bottom of his peripheral vision.

"Don't feel bad, he hates Leo, too," the son of Hades informed him.

Dean gave the horse one last wary glance before turning his attention to the small demigod. "No idea who that is. But, would you like to come with me to get some McDonald's?"

Nico's face lit up at the mention of McDonald's. He grabbed the older man's arm and started down the road.

"Uh, shouldn't we tell your friends where we're going so they don't freak out?" Dean asked.

"No time, need burgers," was the only response Dean got.

Apparently the son of Hades had one weakness: McDonald's.

The moment they got there the kid wasted no time spending every cent he could find to buy himself every burger they had. The kid ended up with twenty burgers in total and didn't seem to have any interest in sharing as he all but growled when Dean reached for one.

While Nico became very stingy over his burgers, Dean thought about the others in the group. "What would the others like, hmm?"

"Will doesn't like burgers, but I got him a salad and a chicken sandwich," Nico explained. "Annabeth might like the chicken wrap; Thalia doesn't want anything from you, no offense; Percy likes bacon cheeseburgers with extra, extra bacon."

Dean's look of distress at Will's dislike of burgers morphed into one of pride when he discovered that Percy shared his love of bacon cheeseburgers. He ended up buying a salad for his brother, a chicken wrap for Annabeth, four bacon cheeseburgers with triple the bacon for him and Percy, and lastly he bought Thalia a big heaping plate of nothing.

Before they could head back with their bountiful harvest of grease and meat, Dean stopped into a 7-11 to buy two slices of cherry pie.

"Two burgers and two pieces of pie? And here I thought you were watching your figure," Nico said snarkily when Dean exited the gas station.

Dean huffed out a laugh. "Says the kid that spent his entire life's savings on burgers. Also, for your information, one of these is for you." Nico stared at him in surprise. "Yeah, this is a one time deal so don't expect me to ever share pie with you again, understood?"

Nico moved the McDonald's bags in his arms so he could carefully hold the slice of pie while they walked. He held it like it was a treasure.

"Why would you share with me?" he questioned quietly.

The kid was staring at the holy grail in his hands with a look of confusion and hope.

A part of Dean that he liked to ignore understood exactly how the son of Hades felt. The idea that someone actually wanted to spend time with him just because they could, the idea that someone would give up their favorite food just because, the idea that someone could treat him like a normal person, those had all been foreign concepts to him for most of his life. Even now, the only person who had ever done all of those things - besides Sam - was Bobby. Dean knew that if he hadn't had Bobby in his life, he'd have ended up a lot more like his father.

Before he could start delving into the negative thoughts that came with his past, Dean replied, "Just 'cause." After a few seconds, Dean reached out to lay a hand gently on the kid's shoulder. Nico, surprisingly, didn't flinch from the contact. "Hey, kid, look. I've heard what happened to you and I… I just… Look, don't make me spell it out for you, I really hate chick-flick moments. But, basically, you're not alone. I lost my mother, too. And I know there are no words for that, and I'm not going to offer any empty words of sympathy or whatever. I grew up alone and… I... Look, I just understand, okay?"

He'd gone from gentle to defensive by the end of his little spiel and now just wanted to hide from the world for a little while after that terrible chick-flick moment.

"Thanks," Nico muttered with a small smile as they continued walking.

When they reached the parking lot of the motel, they were bombarded with concerned demigods. Will was leading the small army of demigods as he ran to check on Nico.

"Why didn't you tell me… I mean, us where you were going?" Will fretted over Nico, looking for any scratches or bruises.

Nico moved to save the pie from being squished and, consequently, the bags of burgers fell from their precarious position. Dean and Percy dove to save the burgers and managed to retrieve the bags before any harm befell the defenseless food.

"Forget these wide-eyed fears," Percy began singing and Will started giggling. Nico face-palmed while everyone else stared at the son of Poseidon in surprise. "I'm here, nothing can harm you."

Percy paused in confusion before looking at Will like he'd just stabbed him in the back. "Really, man?"

The rest of the group giggled a little before the focus returned to Nico and Dean.

Annabeth gave Dean a murderous look that rivaled Thalia's. Sam was leaning against Baby with a look that said "Children, amirite?". When Dean glanced at his brother for an explanation, he only received a shrug.

Nico managed to worm his way out of the circle of demigods. "Guys, I'm fine. We just went to buy some… Percy, don't touch my food."

Percy dropped the burger he'd been holding back into the bag. Then, just to be safe, he handed the bag to Will and backed away a little. That kid was going to get his soul dragged to the fields of punishment if he wasn't careful.

Once the demigods determined that their smallest member was, in fact, safe, they divided up the food for a quick lunch. Thalia didn't seem too bothered with her lack of food.

After they were finished, Percy's confused face stared out at his horse and Dean's Baby.

"Uh, which one are we taking?" Percy asked softly.

The monster huffed indignantly, as if Percy had insulted it.

"Sorry," Percy apologized quickly before looking to Dean.

Dean tried to stare the horse down but seemed to be failing. "I'm not getting on that thing."

The horse cried out angrily.

Percy stifled a laugh before responding, "Good, Blackjack doesn't really care for you too much."

"What did it say?" Dean demanded to know. He couldn't have some stupid horse monster talking shit about him.

"Nothing," Percy said as he coughed to cover up his laughter. Then Will's little curse decided to act up again and the son of Poseidon broke into song again, "There's a girl I know, he loves her so, I'm not that girl."

Dean nearly dropped his last bite of pie when he doubled over from laughing so hard. Percy's face turned a deep red color as Thalia joined in to laugh at him.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the two men before she focused on the taller Winchester.

"Do you have any ideas on where we should start looking?" she asked. Sam who shook his head. "Styx. Neither do we."

Suddenly, Percy cried out, "Well, at least horses don't think I'm the freakin' god of douchebags!"

"Horses are stupid and shouldn't even have the ability to think for themselves," Dean shouted.

Will held on a little tighter to Nico as the rest of the group decided on whether Blackjack had a right to his own opinions or not. Dean was quickly losing that battle so he decided to sulk by Nico, mostly hoping to get some of the kid's leftover pie.

Nico snickered at the grumpy hunter before sliding the half finished pie over.

Dean instantly brightened as he practically inhaled the sugary substance.

The son of Apollo made a face at the unhealthy Winchester's food choices but remained silent.

As soon as he finished his extra pie, Dean stood up to dust off his jeans. "Alright, everyone… and Thalia… I'll be taking my Impala to get some horse hairs. Annabeth and her group can take that piece of shit over there." Dean waved vaguely in the horse's direction, the horse in turn snorted in Dean's direction. "That leaves Nico."

The group turned to look at Nico with a mixture of concern and anticipation. Will was staring at Nico like he expected the kid to burst into flames any second.

Nico gave the blond boy beside him a reassuring smile. "I have a chauffeur, don't worry."

Dean grumbled. "Why the hell did I have to drive you kids all the way out here then? Bitch."

"Jerk," Nico retorted.

The Winchesters stared wide-eyed at the pale Italian before Dean barked out a laugh. Nico jumped at the sound of Dean's laugh, he didn't appear to understand what was going on.

"I'll explain later," the shorter Winchester chuckled. "Right now, we've got shit to do and monsters to gank."

With that pep talk out of the way, the older Winchester got in his Impala as the others said their quick goodbyes. Will was listing off poisonous plants that Nico should avoid. Annabeth and Percy were holding on to each other like they would die without the other, hell for all Dean knew they might. Thalia was leaning against the horse staring sadly at the four demigods. Sam was standing awkwardly next to the horse, as well, unsure if he should get on it or not.

The Hunter of Artemis rolled her eyes at the awkward man beside her.

"Come on, Big Foot, we got shit to do," Thalia ordered as she leapt up onto the horse.

Annabeth reluctantly pulled away from Percy to climb up behind Thalia before Sam attempted to, as well.

The three of them were rather uncomfortably close together but they managed to fit. Luckily, Blackjack was strong enough to fly even with the extra weight on his back. He didn't seem to have a problem with the younger Winchester either.

"And now I'm all alone again, nowhere to go, no one to turn to," Percy quietly sang.

Percy watched the three fly off on his pegasus before climbing into the backseat of the Impala. Without a word, the son of Poseidon laid down with his back to the driver's seat. Occasionally, Dean could see the raven haired teen's shoulders shake which told him the boy was crying.

Will sat down uncomfortably in the front seat. He gave Dean a nervous smile before gazing at Percy for a moment. When he looked back at Dean, he mouthed the letters, P-T-S-D.

Damn, a kid his age shouldn't even know what that is, let alone be suffering from it, Dean thought bitterly.

As Dean started the car, Will muttered some strange words and Percy's body went limp. Soft snoring told Dean that Will had given the boy the magical equivalent of a sleeping pill.

"He'll be okay," Will said, more to himself than to Dean.

Dean glanced into the rearview mirror to see the sleeping demigod. "I hope so. God, I hope so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will and Percy are going to have some bonding time, Percy's gonna be singing more songs from Broadway musicals, and Crowley's going to meet Jules-Albert all in the next chapter.
> 
> Also, all of you that read my original story and for reviewing it!:) I'll update as soon as possible!
> 
> Songs Used:
> 
> All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera
> 
> I'm Not That Girl from Wicked
> 
> On My Own from Les Miserables


	20. Broken

Persephone was more than sure that the angel in her garden was telling the truth after the earth shattering scream caused some of the cavernous ceiling above them to come crashing around them. The hordes of demons that dug themselves out of the earth below them was a pretty good indicator, as well.

Everything she threw at the demons bounced harmlessly off of them or even phased right through them.

"I am your queen and you shall follow my orders! I order you to stand down," Persephone commanded as she stood proudly on the steps of her Underworld palace. The demons slowed for a second at the base of the stairs before they began crawling briskly towards her.

Castiel stood calmly one step below her. A strangely shaped dagger appeared in his hands as he slowly began to back away from the demonic monstrosities creeping towards them.

"Your Majesty," Castiel addressed her as he lashed out at a demon that had gotten too close. "You need to leave, now."

Persephone gulped. "I… I can't. I'm not allowed to."

"Sometimes you have to break the rules," Castiel urged.

The Queen of the Underworld shook her head vigorously. "No, you don't understand! I can't!"

Before Castiel could respond, there was a deafening explosion that crushed them into the steps of the palace. A moment passed before Persephone regained consciousness and even then she could barely see past the spots that blocked her view.

When her eyesight finally cleared she caught sight of the thing that had caused the explosion. She could only describe it as the living manifestation of all the tormented souls. Dropping into Tartarus would have been a walk in a flowery meadow compared to facing this being.

The man beside her groaned as he came to.

Glancing up at the being before her and the angel at her side, the goddess came to a decision.

"Follow the music," she whispered as she grasped the angel's hand.

A moment later, the angel was gone, leaving her to face the creature alone.

The being said nothing as he strolled up the steps like he had all the time in the world. When it reached the Queen he merely lifted his hand. The hand shimmered slightly as it rested in the air before her face.

"Your Highness," the creature greeted goodnaturedly.

Persephone sent out a silent plea to Castiel to be careful as she stared fearfully up at the monster before her.

(***)

The Impala had been heading east, towards Apollo's palace, for over three hours when Percy finally woke up.

The raven haired boy shot up so fast that he caused Dean and Will to jump in surprise. Before either of the people in the front seat could react, he began screaming and shaking uncontrollably.

Before Will could react, Percy started crying, "She's dead. She's dead."

Will motioned for Dean to keep driving while he tried to soothe the son of Poseidon. "Percy, calm down. Annabeth is fine, remember? She's safe."

Percy looked up at him with tears pouring down his face. Will had never seen the legendary hero look so terrified, it scared the styx out of him.

As Will continued talking in a soothing voice, Percy's trembling began to subside. The guy wouldn't stop looking at him with those wide, fearful sea-green eyes, though. He also wouldn't stop jumping at every sudden movement or sound.

"Are you okay?" Will questioned hesitantly.

Percy's eyes were starting to become unfocused and Will was worried the demigod was about to have flashbacks. That was just what they needed, a delusional demigod fighting imaginary monsters with a very real, very sharp sword in a car going over eighty miles an hour down the interstate.

"I promised not to leave her again," Percy mumbled incoherently. "I let her down. I failed. They're going to kill her." Then he latched onto the collar of Will's shirt to pull him close to whisper, "They can't be trusted."

Will attempted to release the legendary hero's grip but failed. Instead, he decided to press his forehead to Percy's and closed his eyes. Unspeakable images flashed through his mind as Percy's traumatic experiences played out for him.

When Percy finally let go of his shirt, Will slowly opened his eyes. Percy was forcing a goofy smile on his face.

"Ha ha, sorry, I dunno what came over me," he apologized.

Before anyone could question him, Percy claimed he was still tired and promptly turned his back on the two in the front seat.

Will continued staring at the back of the broken demigod before him for a moment until he finally realized that his seatbelt was digging into his side uncomfortably. When he did turn back around, Dean was casting him confused and concerned glances.

"We need to get him back to Annabeth, soon," was the only explanation he gave the hunter. God, if he's this bad, I can't imagine how bad it is for Annabeth.

Will glanced behind him for a moment to make sure that his Broadway curse had been taken off, just in case. He didn't want to hear a bunch of depressing songs on his first quest.

Part of him felt guilty, he had always disliked the son of Poseidon for being better than him. He realized now that he had done basically what Nico had, he'd but the demigod on a pedestal. He had made a god out of some normal kid. After seeing Percy's past, he came to understand that Percy was just as flawed as he was. This legendary hero had saved the world and become the god's favorite pawn, and look what it had gotten him.

Even now, Percy was hugging himself tightly as he pretended to be sleeping.

The doctor inside him couldn't stand seeing anyone in as much pain as Percy was, so he reached out to the son of Poseidon. With his hand hovering over the hero's shoulder, Will whispered another grecian spell.

This time he added an extra bit to hopefully keep away the nightmares.

I wonder how Nico's doing...

(***)

"Let me go."

"No."

"Let me go."

"NO!"

"Let me go."

Nico somehow managed to keep himself from destroying the King of Hell who was slouched unpleasantly in the backseat where Nico had dumped him about four hours earlier. Jules-Albert had picked them up from the motel out in Colorado and was now speeding through the streets towards their destination.

Everything would have been fine, had the King of Hell not been such an annoying asshole.

So far, Nico had nearly stabbed the guy five times and had punched the man so many times that he had bruised his knuckles.

"Let me go. Let me go. Let me go. Let me…" A fist to the jaw caused Crowley to stop his mantra.

"Jules-Albert, please drive faster," Nico pleaded.

The chauffeur pressed down on the gas and the car increased in speed. "Even at this speed, sir, it will take us another seven hours to reach our destination."

Nico slumped in the passenger seat as the demon king started up his mantra again. There was no way he was going to be able to survive this torture. Maybe Will would forgive him for one little shadow travel. Dissolving into darkness sounded a lot less painful than this shit.

The mantra stopped and silence fell in the car causing the son of Hades to look up. His concern quickly turned to aggravation

"Styx!"


	21. Distractions

Sam was so done with flying horses.

There was nothing to keep the three of them from falling to their deaths and he was just tall enough that he had almost gotten knocked out by a passing bird. Wouldn't that be a fitting end?

He could see it now… Someone would ask how the great Sam Winchester died, who could have killed this strong hunter? Lucifer? Pfft, please. Angels? Nah. God? Don't make me laugh. Wendigo? Ghoul? Zombie? Werewolf? No. A fucking goose. Dean would raise him from the dead just to laugh at him.

Just as Sam was contemplating how to safely get off the horse at such a high altitude, Thalia muttered something to the horse who then began to descend.

They ended up in the middle of a meadow that was surrounded by enormous trees.

"Where…?" Sam began to ask.

"Redwood National Park," Annabeth answered blandly.

She hadn't said much on their flight, instead choosing to keep her head low. Sam had been worried that the girl was going to fall asleep but, thankfully, she hadn't. Looking at her now, it seemed she hadn't slept much, if at all, the night before. Her eyes didn't shine with the knowledge she normally would have been bursting with, instead they were dull and unfocused like she wasn't even fully with them.

Thalia didn't seem to notice, or maybe she knew something Sam didn't.

The Hunter patted Blackjack's neck before he flew off, probably to find some other pegasus to talk shit to.

"Come on," Thalia commanded.

Annabeth flinched but quickly regained her composure as she followed after the Hunter of Artemis. Sam glanced around them for a moment before hesitantly following after the two girls.

They walked in silence, Sam saw a coyote at one point but luckily it kept its distance.

"Where are we going?" he inquired.

Thalia let out an annoyed sigh. "To find Lady Artemis, dumbass. Keep up."

Sam gave the back of the Hunter's head a classic bitch face before continuing. "I mean, do you know where exactly we're heading? As in, where is this great goddess of the hunt?"

"Watch the tone, Sasquatch."

"Then give me an answer, Asshat."

"Excuse me?"

Annabeth placed a gentle hand on either of their shoulders, stopping them both in their tracks. The daughter of Athena said nothing but her sharp grip slowly tightened until she had both of the hunters wincing.

Both hunters hastily apologized and the child of Athena released them.

Sam rubbed at his shoulder as Annabeth began strolling leisurely in the direction they had been heading a moment before. Something was wrong with her, he just couldn't figure out what it was.

Was it because Percy wasn't here? Was she just tired? Did her and Thalia have issues? These questions and more crossed through Sam's mind as he followed after the two women again.

Thalia slowed down so that she was walking beside the Winchester. "Listen up, Sam." The use of his actual name caused the hunter to pause to listen to the girl. "Annabeth has some issues that she needs to work out. Because of that, we are going to be on our best behaviours so that she can calmly work through her problems with no added stress, understood?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with her?" Sam whispered back.

She bit her lip as she seemed to debate on whether or not to answer the question when Annabeth beat her to it. "I have PTSD. Now, if you guys would stop talking about me as if I weren't here, we could get on with this quest."

That shut the two of them up for a good while, yet Thalia remained by Sam's side the entire time. He assumed she was merely giving Annabeth space, but he was still impressed that she could go such a long period without insulting him.

After walking for over an hour in silence, Sam leaned towards the raven haired girl. "I'm sorry for insulting your goddess and for calling you an asshat."

The girl snorted. "Yeah, it's cool I deserved it. I apologize for insulting you. However, you ever insult my goddess again and I will gut you like a fish, capiche?"

Sam gulped as Thalia smiled sweetly up at him. Lightning flashed in her eyes as she stared up at him and Sam couldn't deny that he was absolutely terrified of the young girl. She smiled sweetly and seemed harmless enough, but he could tell she was as sharp and tough as her attitude made her seem.

As Sam smiled nervously at the girl, she slapped him on the back and laughed like he'd just told the best joke she had heard in ages.

Sam chuckled awkwardly as they continued following Annabeth.

What have I gotten myself into?

(***)

The chains, Crowley realized, did not keep him from teleporting elsewhere. He managed to transport himself a safe distance away on another side of the city they had been driving through, where he eventually convinced some homeless kid with a knack for locks to unchain him.

He would have given anything to see the look on that Underworld prince's face when he realized that Crowley was gone. Well, not if it meant that he had to be chained up again or dragged back to the Underworld. He knew it was suicide to go into the Underworld at this point in time. Apollyon might not be out but a few of his demonic minions were roaming freely. Even a handful of those demons were enough to destroy them all.

The lyre was important, but he was sure that Nico and Castiel could handle that on their own. With that belief firmly planted in his mind, Crowley decided to relax for a bit. And he would have, had a bratty little child not decided to shadow travel directly in front of him in that moment.

"What is with you people?" Crowley griped as a pissed off Italian stood in front of him.

The temperature dropped drastically in the alley they were in which cause the King of Hell to smirk. "Ooh, I'm so scared. You gonna destroy me like you did that Bryce kid?" Crowley challenged.

Nico flinched and the temperature returned to normal. The kid looked so guilty, Crowley almost laughed at him. Almost. For the most part, he was just felt relieved that the son of Hades had decided not to use his newfound powers on him.

Instead, the kid snapped his fingers. Skeletal hands reached out of the ground to grab onto Crowley's legs. The King of Hell grumbled to himself as the skeletons continued to keep him from moving.

He couldn't even figure out how the little maggot had managed to find him in the first place.

The kid fell to his knees as he panted. The skeletal appendages refused to let Crowley go, though.

"Will's gonna kick my ass when he finds out," Nico chuckled darkly.

With that statement out of the way, the kid collapsed while the King of Hell struggled against his new chains. How was the kid even keeping the skeletons up when he was too tired to even stay awake?

Crowley kicked his legs in a last ditch effort to get away from the hands before sitting down in the dark alley to wait for the Ghost King to reawaken.

"I should've just killed that sun god when I had the chance," Crowley griped.

(***)

Castiel regained consciousness right as Persephone had decided to transport him to some grand throne room that Castiel believed must have been inside the palace. Everything was dark and ghoulish soldiers stood guard along the walls. None of the guards seemed to take notice of the out of place angel, thankfully.

The angel glanced around as he stood up. The throne itself was made of black onyx with skulls embedded into it for decoration. The ceiling far above his head was as black as the walls around him.

The soldiers that stood guard were in different military uniforms from a dozen different periods of human history.

A gentle, soothing melody floated into the room while Castiel examined his surroundings.

Persephone's words echoed in his head. Follow the music.

With those words in mind, Castiel headed down one of the hallways in the direction he could hear the mournful music coming from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Nico, he just can't catch a break. But they've got about 3 1/2 days left to save the world, let's hope Thalia's group manages to find Artemis, Nico doesn't sleep through the end of the world, and Percy doesn't accidentally kill his friends due to a PTSD flashback... This got so much more angsty than I originally planned...


	22. Angst

The first thing Percy noticed when he woke up again was that he felt as if his head had been detached from his body. He didn't feel quite whole, then he noticed that his head was hanging out the car window. Lastly, he noticed that the car was no longer safely on the ground.

Normally, he would have been screaming and chopping heads off due to his PTSD, but the shock of no longer being on the ground overshadowed any traumatic triggers.

"What the…?" he started as he practically leapt back into the car.

He landed rather unceremoniously in Will Solace's lap which only caused them both to tense up in awkwardness. Will was red in the face as he tried to shove the son of Poseidon off of him and Percy was sure that he was just as red.

A quickly muttered apology went unheard as Will tried to rub away the blush from his cheeks.

Dean was laughing at the two from the front seat.

"Careful. Dunno how this magic works, but I sure don't wanna test our luck at this height," Dean warned.

"What?" Percy glanced around them to find hundreds of wind spirits surrounding the Impala. "What?" he repeated. The last thing he remembered was being in the car driving away from Annabeth and the car had most definitely been on the road. "What?" he asked for a third time.

Dean watched him through the rearview mirror with both pity and amusement in his eyes. "You wanna catch Aquaboy up?"

"That's Aquaman to you, Winchester," Percy corrected out of habit.

Will rolled his eyes at the cocky attitude. Percy idly thought about what the son of Apollo's problem was. It was like everything Percy did annoyed the kid or maybe Will was upset that Percy had hurt Nico. Oh, styx, Percy thought in dismay, I'm never gonna fix that am I?

"Okay, so," Will began to explain without looking at Percy, "we made it to Key West about ten minutes ago, and these spirits, so nicely decided to give us a lift to my dad's temple. Or at least one of them."

Percy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Key West, Florida? But we were just in Colorado?"

Will gave him a sheepish smile. "Yeah, you've been asleep for over twenty-four hours."

Twenty-four hours of sleep without nightmares during a quest? Wow.

His look of awe must have come across as confusion because the young doctor started off on a tangent about why he had been forced to put a sleeping spell on Percy. He scoffed when told that he cried. He blushed when told that he freaked out over missing Annabeth. He then cut Will off when he started talking about how badly Percy drooled in his sleep.

"Gods, you sound like Annabeth," Percy griped.

Dean looked like he had a few witty remarks for the son of Poseidon but the wind spirits let go of the car at the same moment that the Winchester opened his mouth. Gravity let go of the three quest takers for a moment as they floated up. It was the coolest feeling Percy had ever experienced, or at least it was for a total of one second. The Impala slammed onto something hard and gravity came back full force.

Percy looked up to see a floating, golden palace with nothing but the ocean below it. The doors to the palace were wide open to show them a grand entryway with walls covered in images of Apollo.

"Wow. Think he's compensating for something?" Dean joked.

Will frowned. "Watch it. That's my dad you're talking about."

"Oh, right. Sorry," Dean said absentmindedly.

"Well, let's go find the horses," Will suggested, even as he remained sitting.

It took Percy a moment to realize that the two were staring at him as if he were about to burst into flames. "What?" Gods, was that becoming his new catchphrase?

"You're nauseous and a nervous wreck," Will stated with concern laced through his voice.

Great. Either the kid was gonna hate his guts or coddle him like a child. Could the guy find some middle ground? Percy had saved the world more times than he could remember, why was this kid suddenly getting all worried about him?

"If you're gonna hurl, get out," Dean ordered. "No one vomits in Baby."

"I'm fine," Percy said a little too quickly. Will clearly didn't believe him which only aggravated Percy more. "Look, I've gone to the Underworld, fought Ares, fought fucking titans, and gone through Tartarus. Going to your fucking dad's temple in the sky isn't gonna affect me, so stop looking at me like I'm some child!"

He instantly regretted everything he said when the concern in Will's eyes disappeared.

"Well, excuse me for caring. What did Nico ever see in you?" Will bit out.

"Will," Percy tried but the kid was already out of the Impala and rushing into the palace.

Dean gave him a disappointed look before getting out to follow after the son of Apollo. Percy slammed his head into the passenger's seat with a groan before he also got out of the car. Could he ever catch a break?

(***)

Annabeth knew she should probably talk to someone about her issues. Someone besides Percy, of course. But she could never convince herself to do that. It seemed unfair to burden someone else with the horrors she had seen there. Talking to Nico about the experience just felt wrong, there was no reason to bring back those memories if the son of Hades was finally moving on.

Thalia called out some directions for Annabeth, since she and Sam were giving the daughter of Athena as much space as possible. The blonde turned in whichever direction Thalia ordered and the three slowly made their way through the enormous forest.

It wasn't until a she ran into a stag, that Annabeth actually took note of her surroundings.

The deer was guarding one of the many trees in the area, the only thing that made this tree different was the rope ladder that hung from some unseen branch above. A few smaller creatures scampered around the tree as she glanced around.

Thalia grabbed her arm and jerked her back just as the deer moved to headbutt her.

"Wow, there, Gerald," Thalia said calmly. "It's me, Thalia. I come seeking shelter."

The stag blew out a great huff of air through its nose but remained otherwise unmoved.

"Oh, come on," the Hunter begged. "I promise that the man will remain down here where you may keep an eye on him."

The great beast tilted its head as if it were considering the suggestion but only a few seconds later, the creature shook its head.

"Gerald!" Thalia shouted. "Let me in or so help me…!"

"Excuse me, Gerald?" Annabeth cut in before Thalia could threaten the deer. "I'm considering being a Hunter of Artemis and Thalia wished to show me some of the amazing places and creatures of the great goddess of the hunt, in order to persuade me to join. I must admit, she was right in saying you were the greatest beast of this entire forest!"

Gerald puffed out his chest as the daughter of Athena spoke.

"This must be a very magnificent place for you to protect it so valiantly," Annabeth continued. "I'm sure Artemis is greatly pleased with your loyalty and praises you daily."

The creature held his head higher than before as if to impress the three travelers.

Thalia rolled her eyes at the creature. "Oh, please, he's just an annoying little…"

"No, not this magnificent creature!" Annabeth argued with pointed look at her friend.

The deer huffed angrily in Thalia's direction.

"Oh, wonderful Gerald, might I please see this fantastic place you protect? I promise to go alone and the next time I see Artemis I will be sure to speak highly of you. I know she'll be super impressed with you and would happily grant you any wish for finding her a new recruit."

Gerald hesitated for a moment and Annabeth feared he wouldn't allow her through. Just as she was about to start up on another monologue about how powerful and great the stag was, he lowered his head and backed away from the tree.

Thalia grumbled off to her side. "Fine, that works, too." The Hunter reached for the rope ladder only to have Gerald block her way. "What now?"

"He agreed to let me go alone, remember?" Annabeth reminded her.

"Do you know what we're looking for?" Sam asked from a few feet away.

"She'll know it when she sees it," Thalia explained reluctantly.

The deer backed away again to allow Annabeth to start climbing up the rope ladder.

She was only about ten feet up when she heard angry cries below her. A quick glance down revealed the cause. There were now about ten people surrounding the rope ladder and her friends. The people looked completely normal, at least they did until they looked up and she saw that they had a mouthful of sharp, jagged teeth.

Sam was gripping tightly onto a tree branch that he must have recently picked up while Thalia already had an arrow notched.

"No matter what happens or what you hear, keep climbing. Don't look down," Thalia ordered her without looking away from the creatures around them.

Something grabbed onto Annabeth's foot just as she began to climb again, it pulled harshly and she had to use all her strength to keep from being jerked off of it. Sam swung his makeshift bat at the creature and managed to land a blow to the monster's chest. The moment the creature let her go, Annabeth began climbing again only to have the creature latch onto her with its teeth.

The young hero screamed as pain raced up her leg. Even when Thalia shot the monster and it released her from its jaws, Annabeth couldn't move due to the intense pain that coursed through her.

"Move!" Thalia commanded as she turned to shoot another monster that had gotten closer.

Gritting her teeth, Annabeth did as she had been ordered to and did her best to ignore the intense pain.

She managed to get about up thirty more rungs before she heard the screams of the damned surge around her. It sounded like every tortured soul of the Underworld had decided to go on a field trip to the Redwood National Forest to practice their shrieks.

A cry of surprise that sounded suspiciously like it had come from Sam reached her ears, but Annabeth focused her eyes above her as she began climbing again.

(***)

With a groan, Nico opened his eyes.

He was still in the alley where he'd tracked Crowley down earlier. In fact, the disgruntled King of Hell was still trapped in a skeletal embrace about four feet away.

"Oh, finally awake?" Crowley asked in mock concern. "And here I thought you were gonna just sleep through the apocalypse."

Nico shot to his feet. "How long was I asleep?"

A quick glance at the sky told him it was morning. But was it the morning after he'd found Crowley? Two mornings after? Three? Was the world going to end in less than a day?

"Only about fifteen hours."

Only fifteen? Really? Wow, maybe Nico was getting stronger.

"We've got less than three days to rescue Angel Boy and get that lyre. Don't look so relieved, damn brat. The Underworld's overrun with demons from the abyss already. We don't stand a chance."

Nico smirked. "I feel sorry for those demons. They've gotta put up with Persephone and she's not gonna make it easy for them."

The son of Hades motioned for Crowley to follow him as he turned to the waiting Jules-Albert who sat patiently inside his car. The skeleton hands holding Crowley down grew into full skeletons that dragged a very peeved King of Hell to the idling car.

"Come on, Demon," Nico joked. "This'll be fun."

He was a little confused as to why he was in such a good mood, but he just shrugged it off as a side effect from hanging out with Dr. Sunshine so much.


	23. Struggles

The vampires popped up out of nowhere. One minute Annabeth was tricking a giant deer, the next they were being ambushed by an army of the undead. Now, blood was dripping down the rope ladder from the bite a vampire had inflicted on Annabeth's leg and the magical treehouse guardian was nowhere to be seen.

Thalia's magical arrows jutted out of a few vampires chests, but they only served to piss off the vampires even more.

"We need to cut their heads off, it's the only way to kill a vampire," Sam shouted as he dodged one of the monsters. It wasn't like he was doing much better, though. With only the occasional stick lying about, there was nothing Sam could use for a beheading.

Just as he was beginning to wonder if one of the vampires would allow him to casually beat on its head until it fell off, Sam felt the earth leave his feet for a moment. His back recovered the ground almost as quickly as his feet had lost it. Before his feet could return to their beloved earth, his ankles were snatched by a pair of clawed hands.

When he finally managed to regain some form of composure, he saw a sharp-toothed grin hungrily licking its lips. His immediate thought was how badly vampires needed to brush their teeth. You'd think a creature with that many teeth would take better care of them.

Did vampires have vampire orthodontists? That would be a good business venture if I don't die first, Sam thought.

The teeth were coming painfully close as Sam frantically thought of how awkward a vampire with braces would look. His fear was doing strange things to his mind, that was the only reason he could think of that would explain the weird ass thoughts he was having.

Wasn't his life supposed to be flashing before his eyes?

A brief flashback montage occurred in his mind. Images of ghosts, demons, Dean scarfing down a burger the size of his head, and vampires… Right, that's why his life no longer flashed before his eyes.

The claws gripped his leg so tightly that he couldn't break free no matter how much he tried to kick loose. Then the hands left his leg to grip his neck to pin him to the ground.

A few well placed punches to the throat and face of the vampire were deftly ignored.

Sam accepted his fate and awaited his next death. Maybe next time Dean decided to bring him back to life, he'd do it after every possible apocalypse was taken care of. Teeth drew closer and closer until they were millimeters from ripping skin and muscle from bones.

But instead of searing pain, Sam felt warm liquid spray across his torso before a large body landed on top of him.

"Come on, lazy ass, get up!" Thalia shouted.

On Sam's chest was the headless body of the vampire that had been less than an inch away from tearing him to shreds. The head lay a few feet away, staring off into the distance as if contemplating its life choices. Perhaps, the vampire had wanted to be a dentist and had just taken a wrong turn somewhere in life that ended with him becoming a blood-drinking creature with teeth that fueled nightmares. Everyone made mistakes, why did this guy have to die if he just had bad directions?

A swift slap to the face gave Sam the chance to bring his sanity back from the brink.

He shook his head to clear away any other fantastical, stupid thoughts that his mind might be thinking up. When he finally took a look at his surroundings, he found over a dozen headless vampires lying about on the ground but more were swarming.

"How…?"

Thalia handed him a hunting knife. "I'm a damn good Hunter."

Sam decided not to question how she'd taken over a dozen vampires down in under a minute with just a hunting knife. As far as he knew she might take him out the same way if he questioned her hunting skills.

"Do this many usually hunt together?" Thalia asked as she pressed back towards the rope ladder.

Sam pressed his back to her's as he took the time to get used to the feel of the strange knife in his hands. "Depends on the vampires. For the most part, they travel in small groups but I know of some whose covens are full organizations with branches everywhere."

"So, in other words, if these creatures are part of an organization they'll just keep coming?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, Tartarus."

The next wave of vampires swept in and the two unlikely partners readied themselves for the brunt of the attack before diving in.

*****

"So, where to?" Dean asked as he and Percy faced Will.

Solace stared off down the many branching corridors in front of them with dread.

Dean could understand that feeling, given that he felt rather nauseous himself from looking at all the many portraits of the sun god. Seriously, did this guy have any shame? Who even put a painting like that in the entryway of his home?

It wasn't his place to judge another man's home but, damn, was it tacky.

Will appeared to be more lost than anyone else, except for Percy who was wandering around them. The magic spell Will put on him must have been wearing off since Percy was becoming antsy.

Then again the calming spell he'd put on Dean was also weakening, seeing as Dean was having to force himself not to think about how high up they were right now. Or how if he took one wrong step he could die. Or how if the sun god suddenly decided to get rid of his temple they'd all be dead. Or…

"Dean?" Will started.

The eldest Winchester felt a hand on his arm but he could only vaguely register who it was.

"Oh, no, no, no. I'm fine. We're fine. It's fine. It's fine. Don't worry about it," Dean muttered. "Where's the horse with the magic hair?"

Percy muttered. "I hear them. It's a bit far away, but I do hear horses. I just can't tell what direction they're coming from."

"Well, the sun rises in the east, right?" Will asked. "I mean, if Dad used to use these animals to drag the sun across the sky, wouldn't he put them somewhere that would make it easier to go west?"

It was the best thing they had to go with. Will walked to the center of entryway before turning to look down each hall. Dean had no idea what the kid was doing but he figured if the kid had magical abilities it wasn't his place to question the kid. And if the kid came up short, Dean was sure he had a compass somewhere on him.

Will turned toward another hall and stopped. "Okay, this way."

"Connected to the sun?" Percy said knowingly.

The son of Apollo merely nodded as he headed down the corridor. This corridor had framed loose leaf paper hanging from every inch of the walls. Some had short poems while others took up every inch of space available on the page.

"Wow," Percy mumbled. "Your dad's got issues."

"And your's doesn't?" Will shot back.

Percy opened his mouth to say something only to think better of it. Instead the son of Poseidon decided to back away from the other demigod to walk beside Dean who was giving the two some space.

Dean felt sick to his stomach. At any given moment, they were going to hurl out of the sky to their deaths.

"Hey, man, you alright?" Percy asked when he got next to him.

Winchester swallowed his fear, threw his chest out, and gave the demigod a cocky smile. "Nah, kid. I've never been better."

Percy snorted. "Yeah, that's why you look like one of Cerberus's old chew toys."

The kid just laughed at the angry look Dean threw his way. "Go to Hell, asshole."

"Nah, I'll leave Hell for you Winchesters. I've already got the Underworld and Tartarus under my belt."

The two walked in silence behind Will for awhile before coming to a dead end. There was just a blank wall staring at them with no horses in sight. Dean groaned. He'd been through enough bullshit to know a trick when he saw one.

"Find a way through. The horses are on the other side, goddamn gods and their fucking tests or whatever the fuck," Dean grumbled.

They set to work to figure out how the sun god's secret wall worked, each hoping that they would find out its secrets before the end of the world.

*****

With the Prince of Darkness and the King of Hell, it was easy enough to get into the Underworld. A long ride in a car with a grumpy demon, a small portal jump here, and a little breaking and entering there. No big deal.

Being so close to the Underworld was both relieving and stressful for Nico. The Underworld had been his home for years and had been his safe haven for quite awhile. But he couldn't stop thinking of how close Tartarus was, how it could swallow him whole and tear him to pieces. He would die down their, all alone with no one to remember him.

"Oi, Gloom-and-Doom," Crowley griped.

Nico blinked away his fear as he realized that he'd just stopped moving in the middle of the endless cavern. He quickly caught up to Crowley who was dragging himself along as quickly as he could while being held down by skeletal hands and chains. Nico had to admit the demon was making rather impressive progress. For a moment, Nico just watched as the King of Hell struggled along; he found the sight rather humorous.

After a moment or two of watching the disgruntled demon, Nico finally began moving again.

It had been so long since he had thought about Tartarus. He hadn't talked to anyone about the horrors he'd seen there, thinking that if he ignored it the nightmares would simply go away. Apparently, that approach was not working. Maybe Will would be willing to listen to him when this was all over.

An eerie screech caused the two travelers to freeze. It wasn't a noise that he had heard before, somewhere between a harpy, Cerberus, and a truck backfiring.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Crowley whispered.

Nico swallowed harshly before taking a shaky breath. "Not sure. Maybe one of Apollyon's creatures of the abyss?"

He was answered with a groan and another screech. It definitely sounded like something that would come from the abyss.

As the two of them continued walking, they found an opening that led to the cavernous Underworld. Off in the distance was the Fields of Asphodel and beyond that the Fields of Punishment. Elysium was somewhere out of sight. Before them was the palace of Hades looming darkly against the cavern's ceiling.

"Oh, shit," Crowley muttered.

When Nico followed his line of sight he found something that would probably haunt his nightmares for all eternity. "Holy Styx."


	24. Objects

Nico had seen plague demons before. They were usually green and covered in enormous welts, seeping pus and some other unnameable ick. But the creature before him took gross to a whole other level. He wasn't even sure what the monstrous, fleshy thing was.

It was a blobby, humanoid thing. There were welts the size of the Hades cabin covering its massive body and each oozed some disgusting turd brown stuff. And the smell. Nico was fairly certain the smell was burning every inch of unprotected skin.

Behind him, Crowley vomited. Nico couldn't blame the demon, if he'd had anything on his stomach he would have thrown it up, too.

"What is that?" Crowley moaned pathetically as he tried to stand.

"I can't be sure but I think it's a clusterfuck of plague demons," Nico choked out. "They're disgusting and unorganized. Probably tried to form one giant demon and instead created the Blob."

Crowley managed to stand, though he still looked like he might throw up at any moment. "How do we kill it?"

The fear in Nico's eyes sent chills down Crowley's spine. If the prince of the Underworld couldn't kill a plague demon, then they were as good as dead. Crowley had already died once, he wasn't too keen on a repeat performance.

"You know any healing magic?" Nico asked absently.

Crowley scoffed.

"Right."

The two pulled the collars of their shirts up over their noses in a poor attempt to breathe as they stealthily moved over the obsidian ground towards the castle. The good thing about the horrendous demon mess, was that it hadn't quite figured out how to see or sense anything. A few times Nico managed to create a hole big enough to trap the creature when it got too close. But it always managed to wriggle its way back out.

Just as the air was becoming too polluted to breathe and Nico was fairly certain they'd caught every airborne disease known to man, they reached the palace entrance. As he ran up the steps he noticed a deep crater off to his side and instantly felt sorry for every ill thing he'd ever said about Persephone. Hades was going to be inconsolable for the rest of eternity.

"You can say your respects to dear, old Step-Monster later," Crowley said as he pushed the kid forward.

Somehow they managed to get to the throne room, deep within the palace. No guards stopped them, probably killed already. Nico swore that if he made it out of this alive he was going to thank Zeus personally for calling his father away when he did. He couldn't stand the idea of losing his father.

Crowley looked down every corridor hastily. "Castiel!" he whispered harshly. "Cassandra! Angel Boy! Casanova! Cassie!"

At one point the king of Hell was whistling for the angel like he was some kind of lost dog.

Nico rolled his eyes and was about to drag the demon down a random hallway when a grumpy angel appeared down one hallway. "Silence," he ordered in an icy tone that Nico felt more than heard.

The angel was carrying a blood-splattered lyre that Nico recognized instantly as Orpheus's; he really did not want to know whose blood that was.

A shudder ran through his body. It took a moment before he realized that it wasn't just him but the whole room was shaking. Something big was heading towards them and whatever it was, Nico did not want to meet it in person.

It took him a second to see if he was up for shadow-traveling. He'd been pushing himself harder than he had meant to before when he shadow-traveled halfway across the city looking for the King of Hell. But, as the ground began to quake more viciously, Nico knew there was no other choice. That lyre had to get back, with or without him.

He rushed forward. Grabbing a hold of both demon and angel, he used every bit of power he had left to shadow-travel as far from the nightmare heading towards them.

***

A searing pain in her leg was what woke Annabeth. When she managed to open her heavy eyelids she found herself surrounded by birds from around the world. At first she thought she must have been in some kind of avian zoo, except there were no cages and the birds flew freely. Well, some did. The penguins, ostriches, emus, and other assorted flightless birds ran around kicking colorful kickballs at one another.

Her foot was wrapped tightly in clean gauze and the pain was ebbing as if someone had given her ambrosia.

"You're awake, excellent," came a voice beside her.

When she turned, she found herself face to face with a chicken.

"I am Artemis, I cannot talk long. Please, listen, daughter of Athena," the chicken said earnestly.

A life full of strange and impossible things had trained Annabeth not to laugh. But a part of her had to smile at how ridiculous this was. She was talking to the great chicken goddess, Artemis. The goddess seemed to know what she was thinking because she pecked Annabeth's hand viciously until she apologized.

Artemis continued in an insulted tone. "I wish to help my brother. And you were the only one allowed up here. Thus, I shall tell you how to retrieve my arrows."

"I thought they were on you at all times?" Annabeth remembered Thalia saying something about that.

"Normally, yes. But I hid them in a sacred place. You must return to camp," the chicken spoke so fast Annabeth was barely able to make sense out of its words. "When you need them most, my arrows will guide the way. Until then, protect the camp. Protect my Hunters."

With those rushed words, the chicken goddess disappeared in a puff of chicken feathers. In her place was what appeared to be a glass grenade filled with a thick, crimson liquid

A note lay next to the weapon. "Break glass in case of emergency."

Without further ado, Annabeth limped her way to the edge of the wooden platform where a rope was tied off. She then realized that she had nothing to hold on to the grenade with as both of her hands would be holding on to the rope.

But she couldn't just leave it. Artemis had risked a lot to get it to her, it had to be important.

Perhaps one of the birds would be of assistance? A quick glance around at the squawking bird chaos told her they weren't going to be much help. Did Artemis have another way down? Annabeth surveyed the wooden platform she stood on but found no signs of a stairwell or elevator. Was she supposed to just drop it to the ground?

Without a bit of hesitation, Annabeth let the bomb go. She hoped her gut instinct was right on this.

She began climbing downwards, dreading the moment she heard the explosion.

***

It was hours before Will figured out how to open the door. He'd been staring at some of the poems on the wall when he came to the realization that they weren't several separate poems but one long poem about the coolness of the sun chariot. It then didn't take him too long to figure out that the poem was out of order and he set about rearranging them.

Just as he hung the last of the poem in its proper place, the wall disappeared.

"Mist," Percy said in disgust. "It's always so…"

But the sight behind the wall caused the words to die on his tongue. A kid no older than twelve sat playing with four flaming horses as if they were just a few rowdy puppies.

Dean let out a low whistle. "Never thought I'd see you again."

The kid looked up warily at the hunter. "I didn't want to be here. But some nasty demon locked me in here."

Will took a step toward the kid, already thinking of some medicinal hymns that might heal any potential burns the kid must have sustained from such close contact with the sun chariot horses. When Dean grabbed his arm and jerked him roughly back, it caught Will so off guard he stumbled and fell on his butt.

The kid busted out laughing before choking it off with a quick sorry.

"You two know each other?" Percy asked in extreme confusion.

Dean sighed in exasperation. "Yeah, Percy, meet Jesse 'The Motherfucking Antichrist' Turner."

Will paled as he thought of how he'd almost just touched the antichrist.

Percy hung his head in defeat. "Why can't our lives ever be normal?"

"Because fuck the gods," Dean muttered.

"Alright," Percy said in an attempt to regain control, "Mr. Antichrist, what exactly are you doing here?"

Jesse just shrugged nonchalantly.

Will piped up, "Can we grab a hair from one of those horses and be on our way? Or are you going to hasten the apocalypse if we do that?"

The kid shrugged again. "I don't want the world to end, there's still so much left to see. Like, I still haven't gotten to go to Disney World; I haven't fought ninjas in Japan; and I haven't even kissed a girl, yet!"

"So, you don't want to kill us?" Percy clarified.

Jesse shook his head.

"Alright, then…." Will said slowly. "Then why put him here?"

"Safe keeping?" Percy suggested.

"Time out?" Will jokingly suggested.

Dean moved slightly into the room and the movement drew the two half-bloods attention. "How do we get a hair from these things if they're as hot as the sun?"

Will opened his mouth to answer before realizing he didn't have one. He turned to Percy who looked equally baffled. "Oh, Styx!"


	25. Returning

The room was dark and smelled faintly of mildew but it was the only place the two gods could meet without Zeus' prying eyes. Torn banners from long ago hung on the wall alongside some cobwebs that gave Athena the chills, not that she'd ever admit that to Ares.

Speaking of which, where was the overgrown child?

Athena had been waiting for the war god for over thirty minutes. It was as if the god of war thought that ignoring her would make her go away. How he could still be such a child this close to the apocalypse, she would never know.

Finally, she heard the stomping of boots on the stone floor indicative of Ares.

"Where have you been? You're late," she griped.

Ares waved his hand in annoyance hoping it'd make her shut up for once. Apparently, it worked for once as the goddess of wisdom merely sighed in frustration before dropping the issue.

"Fine," Athena grumbled. "Look, we've got forty-six hours before Apollo rises from the depths of Hell to destroy the world. My hero has already completed his quest and will receive a worthy battle scar from fighting otherworldly monsters. What has your hero done?"

Ares glared at his rival. "My hero put up with that kid Pedro Johnson and read pages - pages - of Apollo's poetry. Your 'hero' got hit by shrapnel from a bomb your daughter threw carelessly out of a tree. "

A beat of silence. Athena didn't have an argument there. What could she say? That Peter Johansen was an annoying pest and even one verse of Apollo's poetry was enough to drive a man insane.

"Anyways," Athena said, changing the subject, "we didn't expect the child to enter into the equation. I thought at best, he'd be the last step of the apocalypse. That child could destroy everything we've worked so hard for."

That had been worrying about that, too. They couldn't kill the kid since he was about as powerful as any god they had ever dealt with. Their only other option was to convince the child to help them but judging by the Winchesters' previous attempt, that wasn't going to be easy with Crowley and the kid's distrust of demons.

"We could leave it to the heroes to figure out," Ares suggested.

The look Athena shot him told him her answer.

"Okay, okay, sheesh," Ares rolled his eyes. "Then what's your idea, Smart-ass."

With a long suffering sigh, Athena replied, "We have to take out the King of Hell. Which means, our partnership isn't over, yet."

Ares barely resisted making a face.

(***)

Lou Ellen was fairly certain the high-pitched scream echoing across camp was not her's. And if it was then who could blame her, considering the fright she had just gotten.

A constipated angel, a car salesman turned demon, and a fading di Angelo had all materialized in front of her without warning. The angel was holding Nico's hand tightly with both of his as the demon stared at Lou Ellen with the same confused and terrified look she was giving them.

"Aren't you supposed to be in California?" Lou Ellen asked when she found her voice.

"Nevermind that," Castiel ordered in that deep commanding voice that made Lou Ellen want to sass him back to Heaven. "This child needs medical treatment before he fades. I'm doing my best but these campers will probably know more of how to combat this than I."

Lou Ellen led the way to the Apollo cabin. "Did he shadow travel across the United States? Dear gods, Will's going to kill him."

Castiel shook his head as he followed behind her, practically dragging a half awake Nico di Angelo behind him. "No, I got us here. He merely shadow traveled us two inches to the right."

The Apollo campers rushed Nico off to the infirmary. Kayla was mumbling something about stupid, selfless idiots as she passed them by with Castiel following closely behind ready to offer his assistance if needed.

Crowley dragged Lou Ellen of to the side, out of earshot.

"Well? The spell? Is it coming along?" Crowley hissed.

Lou Ellen flinched away from the intensity of the demon's question. "No, I need the pieces to even remotely be ready. I saw Angel Boy got the lyre but we've got two other items still gods only know where."

"We have to be ready when…" the demon king paused. The look of baffled terror that fell on his face sent chills up the demigod's spine. "What is that doing here?"

(***)

Dean had done a lot of weird shit in his life. Fought Lucifer? Check. Received mail from an old western cowboy from the past? The mailman still stared at Bobby's house as if it were magic. Explained porn to a centuries old angel? Yeah, that still made him feel awkward.

But watching Percy distract a flaming horse by discussing the obvious failures of modern-day vehicles. The horses apparently believed that the only reliable form of travel across the sky was chariot, anything else was just a fad.

Meanwhile, Will was attempting to remove a hair from the distracted horses with the vague hope that they wouldn't burn him alive because of who his father was.

Jesse Turner was playing on the floor with some action figures he'd conjured up at some point while Dean waited patiently for their plan to blow up in their faces. Literally. They'd already caught the kid up to speed on what was happening, so far he didn't appear very concerned about the whole "end of the world" thing.

"Why am I here? And what are they doing?" Jesse asked without looking away from his fighting G.I. Joes.

Dean glanced at the kid. "Well, I honestly don't know why you're here. But they're trying to get a hair from those horses without dying because without it the world will end. Basically, the world's ending again and the only thing that can stop it is a freaking horse."

"Oh, you mean like this?" Jesse said as he picked up a long strand of hair that lay beside him. "They're all over the place. Or do you need one off the horse? Wouldn't taking it from the horse be counterproductive, though, if you need it on the horse? I mean, I don't wanna tell you how to do your job or nothing, but I just don't think you thought this out."

Dean finally looked around at his surroundings. Just as the antichrist had stated, amongst the piles of hay were fiery strands of hair. He resisted the urge to slap himself for his stupidity.

"Hey, kids," Dean said nonchalantly. "You can keep doing that or we could just use this."

Percy and Will turned to see Dean holding a strand of horsehair between his thumb and index finger.

"Well, I mean, we could," Percy scoffed. "If you wanna do it the easy way, I suppose."

Will rolled his eyes at his fellow demigod. "You're a stubborn ass, you know that?"

"At least I don't go around cursing people to sing in rhymes or whatever, could you be more gay?"

"Are you saying being gay is wrong? I got news for you, Percy, we're Greek! We're all fucking gay," Will shouted.

"That's not what I meant," Percy yelled back.

"Gods, what did Nico ever see in you?" Will grumbled.

Percy sighed in defeat, all the anger seemed to drain from his body. "Hades if I know."

Dean coughed to get the demigods' attention. "Right, well that wasn't awkward or anything. Now, how do we get back to camp? From what I can tell we've got a little over a day to save the world."

Jesse shot up like a rocket with a huge grin covering his face. He started jumping up and down with his hand raised like an excited kindergartener who really needed to go to the bathroom. "I know! I know! There's this really cool looking chariot I found!"

The really cool looking chariot as it turned out was little more than rotted out coffin on rickety old wheels. That didn't seem to put a damper on the antichrist's excitement, though.

"We can hook this up to those horses and ride this baby into the sunset!" Jesse said in awe.

"Actually, we will be the sunset," Will corrected.

That just made the kid even more excited. Before they knew what was happening, Jesse used his freaking voodoo magic to harness the horses to the ancient relic.

Percy and Will were ushered onto it with gusto by the overly enthusiastic antichrist. Dean, however, stood glued to the spot. There was no way in Heaven, Hell, Tartarus, or whatever damn Norse hell existed was he going to get into that coffin on wheels and take off into the sky.

"My car is here and that thing can't be trusted and… and… and… NO!" Dean cried.

"Oh, fine," Jesse rolled his eyes. Percy and Will sighed in relief before the kid continued, "You and your car can go on back to this 'Camp Half-Blood', the three of us will ride this chariot across the horizon!"

He pointed valiantly at the large barn-like doors to the horse stables which proceeded to open at his command. The view nearly caused Dean a heart attack. There was nothing below but the open sea hundreds of thousands of miles below them.

Before either of the demigods could argue and before Dean's heart gave out, the world went blank.


End file.
